


Bet Week

by ikonisch (discordinparadise)



Category: iKON (Korea Band)
Genre: (fear of heights!), I really love that tag, Kinda, Lots of it, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining, Romantic Fluff, Slow Burn, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, and also, dongbin is happening because of a bet too and it's the best thing, it's bet week!, jiwon is s m i t t e n, jiwon wants to help, jiwon's a sweetheart who just feels too strongly, jiwon's pov, junhoe has acrophobia, kind of, or second best cause junbob, the slightest bit of angst, through betting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-02-09 10:33:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18636376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/discordinparadise/pseuds/ikonisch
Summary: It's Annual Bet Week at school, a time Jiwon always waits for each and every year, just like everyone else (who's sane). Everyone’s placing their bets left and right for the week, his best friend might even be finding love while he’s at it, but Jiwon hasn't quite figured out what to do...that is until his crush gives him what may be Jiwon's worst ever idea yet.(spoiler alert: he still goes through with it.)





	1. monday + tuesday

Jiwon had a problem that he couldn't quite fix.

He couldn't fix it because it was six feet tall, gorgeous, loud, and sensitive. Very sensitive. It was impossible to get rid of, and crazy to even think about ignoring.

And as far as crushes go, this was the most absurd one that Jiwon had ever had. He was pretty sure that he was borderline in  _love_  with Junhoe, but he didn't quite know why.

And as far as unrequited love goes? It was the most one-sided thing that you'd ever see, and in Jiwon's eyes, he had fallen for someone who might be more out of his reach than a star in space even at the times when Junhoe was right there, so close.

The problem was that Junhoe  _was_  in his reach, he  _was_  touchable, but he wasn't Jiwon's to touch. He never quite could be.

Jiwon wondered to himself sometimes why he couldn't go any further than where he was. Was it because he had no confidence? Was he just kidding himself and he didn't actually have a crush on Junhoe? Maybe it was just infatuation...that had somehow spanned out over months now. But he just had a completely fixed mindset that _'Junhoe doesn't want me'._

_'Junhoe would say no'._

_'It just won't work out.'_

_'Junhoe's waiting for the right person, and that's not me.'_

"Hyung?"

It seemed like everyone had a crush on Junhoe, sometimes. Even if that wasn't true it would still explain things, and Jiwon wouldn't quite be so alone in all of this.

"Hyung."

Him and Junhoe weren't even  _close_. Junhoe wasn't even that  _great_. Like honestly, Jiwon deserved better than him, right? He was always polite and nice while Junhoe was the opposite. Most of the time. Even if Junhoe had the capability to smile so beautifully that it made Jiwon's head spin, that still didn't mean that he was worth Jiwon's heart and his time. Beauty meant nothing.

"Hyung...?"

Yeah, Jiwon didn't have a crush on Junhoe, he only had a crush on his prettiness. His soft hair, which Jiwon had never felt but he was pretty sure it would be soft. His sharp jaw. His strong nose. His dark eyes which would sparkle when he was happy. His smile, where Jiwon couldn't decided if he liked the bulbasaur one or the soft one more. No feelings whatsoever, just looks-

He yelped when two hands were slamming down on the desk in front of him and he looked up, instantly recoiling when he realised that there was beauty staring right at him and his heart was racing, his head was throbbing and for God's sake, why the hell was his face so close? Junhoe's face had  _never_  been this close. And Jiwon was going to pass out in 3, 2... "What?"

Junhoe only grinned which was honestly the most annoying thing in the world. Jiwon wasn't appreciative. At all. "Just wanted your attention."

"We need to go!" Donghyuk called out from where he was waiting at the door, throwing an empty milk carton into the air and Jiwon was almost too slow to dodge it, catching it in his hand before he slammed it back at Donghyuk who yelped and ducked. "WELL, FUCK YOU-"

" _YOU'RE_  THE ONE WHO STARTED IT-"

The bickering went on to a point that Jiwon completely forgot about Junhoe who ended up trailing behind, and pushing Donghyuk's irritating head out of the way was much better than focusing on someone who probably wouldn't talk to him once while they walked. Why was Junhoe even still there, anyway? Oh no, wait- he  _was_  gone. Okay. Phantom.

"Not that you need to know but I dared Junhoe to do that," Donghyuk interjected casually and Jiwon gaped at him before frowning.

"I knew he wouldn't have done that on his own accord..."

"Me too and I find that quite sad."

"You find everything about me and him 'sad'."

"You guys should be closer..."

Jiwon rolled his eyes, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Sure."

"To be honest, I think we should be running. For the dramatic boyish effect that we should entail for such...an event?"

"Shut up, president, just say we're gonna be late."

Donghyuk drooped a little but nodded. "We're gonna be-"

"THEN STOP TALKING, IDIOT!"

Donghyuk's mouth dropped open in offence but in moments, Jiwon was grabbing his arm and sprinting off, meaning all the younger could do was yell out but Jiwon wasn't worried about him. He looked left to right while they sprinted, even catching sight of Junhoe on the way who was looking at them oddly and Jiwon instantly flushed red, turning away. Not that Junhoe would have seen his face when he was going so fast...but still.

And then they were there. In the hall, with all these other students just like them who were ready for a week of reckless, kiddish gambling. And when Jiwon turned around, opening his mouth to let out a rush of excitement only to see Donghyuk with his windswept face and blonde hair sticking up in every which direction, he covered his mouth.

"You look... _so_  dumb."

Donghyuk glared at him, muttering a bitter, "So do you," as he patted his hair down, and Jiwon only grinned toothily before he heard a microphone being tapped, calling them all to attention.

"Testing...TESTING-"

"Hyung! That's enough!"

"Right, right...good morrow, everyone!" Hanbin yelled and everyone whooped, especially Donghyuk who hollered over everyone, "THAT'S MY FUCKING VICE, PEOPLE" and Hanbin sent him a kiss. "So, I know this is a week that we've been looking forward to for a very long time. So let me now kick this off - Annual Bet Week has officially BEGUN!"

So many cheers everywhere, and honestly this was a time that Jiwon felt the most in touch with his fellow students. He never felt like he related with them usually, not until this week.

"I'm sure you all know the rules. Well, there aren't many, but if you want to place a bet, you must catalogue it in the Bet Book, which is in the Pastoral Centre, for it to be registered. You must make the bet known to anyone else that is involved in it - meaning you must propose it to them while including the wager. This is a BIG deal. Some choose to do it in person, some choose to do it over social media - take your pick. If rejected, that's quite funny- but, not the end of the world!

"Remember that you choose what to do if you win, but THEY choose what happens if you don't. And number of bets for each person are unlimited, but must be completed within this week to count towards house points. The house that wins at the end of this week will be announced in another meeting like this one, except it'll be more extravagant and stuff. Alright, boring admin out the way, and now...to kick this off, our very own student body president's going to make the first bet of the week. Give him a hand!" 

Cheers again, and Jiwon remembered to join in this time as he slapped Donghyuk on the back and the latter mock-glared at him before jogging over to the stage, making his way up. Hanbin grinned at him, handing him the microphone and Donghyuk stood there for a moment, thinking, while everyone waited with baited breath. Until Donghyuk turned to the side and glided forward towards Hanbin, wrapping an arm around the elder's waist and Hanbin, after all his chic showmanship, suddenly looked terrified. Jiwon had to hold back a snicker, instead wolf-whistling among the crowd.

"I bet that if I used all my efforts, you wouldn't be able to resist falling for me," Donghyuk hummed into the mic, smirking at Hanbin who looked ready to die right there, and the crowd let out some 'OOOOH's that had Jiwon doubling over with cackles. "If I win, you're buying me dinner. Twice."

Hanbin looked so lost in Donghyuk's eyes that he seemed to have forgotten what to say, but he quickly stammered out, "O-Okay! Uh, if...you lose...you gotta take a dip in the lake. Stay there for fifteen minutes."

Hanbin looked proud of himself for that as the crowd went even louder than before, but Donghyuk didn't look fazed. "Lucky that's not going to happen. You wouldn't want your future boyfriend to get hypothermia."

"So you're going to date me if you win?"

Donghyuk blinked. "I never said that."

"You basically did."

"I- wha- never mind, okay, anyway- first bet done, everyone!" Donghyuk called out quickly, quickly taking hold of Hanbin's hand and holding it up and the room erupted into cheers again, even with Hanbin quietly hissing, "That's my line."

"I'm president, shut up."

"You're not doing a good job of making me fall for you."

"Ah, sorry, baby...I'll do better."

Jiwon wondered why Hanbin had suddenly turned so red.

But there it was - bet week had begun, and Jiwon had no idea what to do but that was normal. He always got his ideas later on as the week progressed and as time flew by, more and more bets were placed.

_'Hyejin has bet Moonbyul to not flirt with anyone for the rest of the week!'_

_'Yerim has bet Chanwoo to not talk about baseball all week. Chanwoo's quite miserable.'_

_'Jimin has bet Wonho to take his shirt off at least once a day this week in public, but that's really for Jimin's own benefit than for bet week.'_

_'Junhoe has bet Jinhwan to not drink any alcohol for an entire week and what would you have it - Junhoe is the fastest bet-winner by a mile! Sorry, Jinhwan. I'm sure you tried.'_

And one day passed to make way for Tuesday, and Jiwon still hadn't thought of a single thing.

"Hyung?" a voice called out to Jiwon while he was drinking a milkshake, standing on the school's roof while watching the clouds pass by slow as ever, and Jiwon immediately snapped out of his stupor. He looked around in confusion, but then the voice called out for him again and he looked down to the side to see Junhoe standing below on the school's level ground. Jiwon's heart fluttered. Stupid heart.

"Junhoe?"

"H-Hey," Junhoe called back, looking a little sheepish as his eyes flitted around before settling back on Jiwon. "Um...I accidentally got a ball up there. I'm so sorry but uh, could you get it for me? Oh, right - please?"

Jiwon furrowed his eyebrows. Now, that would be kind of annoying, he could get the ball for sure but he couldn't throw it down because it would go all sorts of places again, the drop was way too far, so he'd have to go down and give it to Junhoe. "Can't you just come up?"

Junhoe bit his lip, shaking his head, and Jiwon frowned. "Why not?"

"I don't want to."

"What?"

"I don't want to!"

"I can't hear you, man." 

Junhoe's fists clenched but he didn't say anything else, only looking down and now Jiwon felt concerned. He just decided to do what Junhoe wanted because in the end, he'd do anything for the guy, and he looked around for the ball which he quickly spotted near him. He couldn't believe that he hadn't heard it - he must've been really out of it.

"Coming..." Jiwon muttered, taking hold of it before ducking under the hatchet and going down the stairs, twisting around the pole at the end before jumping down and going towards Junhoe. "Here you go."

Junhoe looked at it and lit up a little as he reached out for the ball, making Jiwon smile. "Thank you-"

"Hey, have you never been to the roof before or something? It's really nice."

Junhoe looked down again as he absent-mindedly hugged the ball to his chest. "It's...not my thing. I've got kind of...a fear of...I just don't like heights."

Jiwon blinked, amazed. "Seriously? Oh. Sorry." Goodness, he really  _was_  sorry. He didn't mean anything by any of this. He just hadn't known, God, he wasn't worthy at  _all_  to have a crush on Koo Junhoe.

"It's ok, not your fault. Thanks."

"No problem..."

Jiwon could only watch as Junhoe turned and left, meaninglessly waving when Junhoe couldn't see it. And suddenly, this was when bet inspiration hit, and it was the worst idea he had ever got. He knew he shouldn't do it. He knew he would probably get his heart broken, if we're going dramatic, he knew Junhoe could end up hating him but - oh, now he was in too deep. He had to.

"Fear of...heights," Jiwon muttered as he typed that into the search bar once he got home, and he read what it came up with.  _Acrophobia_. Jiwon leant back in his chair, wondering why. Was it so bad that Junhoe couldn't go up even that many stairs? To be fair it was in open air, but now Jiwon was curious. Now he was about to make a terrible mistake, or it  _could_  be successful. He didn't have high hopes for the second option but Jiwon was nothing if not a stupid adrenaline junkie, and he was already on his way.

He opened Twitter.

-

**_ji_ **  
**@bobbyranika**

_@tkwpcnfak - koo junhoe - I would like to propose a bet to you_

_I bet that I can get you to a high place, above four metres, before the week's up. not in a building - open roof. sound simple? then try and stop me._

_if I win: you kiss me._

_-_

**> >one incoming text from ** **_'dong'_ ** **!**

_\- KIM JIWON ARE YOU ACTUALLY CRAZY_

_\- YES KIM DONGHYUK, YES I FUCKING AM_


	2. wednesday

_DONGHYUUUUUUK SO MANY PEOPLE ARE LIKIN N RETWEETIN IM SO WKDBDJJD -_

_\- TAHTS BECAUSE YOUVE GOT TONS OF FOLLOWERS_   
_\- YOU A BIG ACCOUNT_

_SHUTUP NO I AM N O T -_   
_okay ok get yourself TOGETHER man -_

_\- you saying that to me?!_

_yes. you're so clearly freakin out and it's embarrassing, stop -_

_\- oh my gosh_   
_\- you're an idiot._

_yes. we've established. omg I can't breathe I'm not gonna be able to sleep -_

_\- why were you a moron who posted this at two am anyway?_

_BECAUSE I've been THINKING about it for the past five hours and I only just got the courage... -_

_\- permission to come over just to slap you_

_I THINK YOURE A BIT LATE -_   
_YOU SHOULDVE TALKED ME OUT OF THIS -_

_\- I DIDNT EVEN KNOW YOU WERE GOING TO DO THIS???_

_oh my GOD I'm not gonna be able to wait the whole morning I can't I CANT -_

_\- then get some shuteye hyung. I'm serious, sleep on it. I bet he'll find it amusing_

_if you mention the word bet again then I'm gonna crack you over the head -_

_\- good, any thoughts of violence towards means you're okay even if it doesn't make sense! sleeeeeeep_

_alright alright -_   
_gn -_

_-_ ❤️

_\-- students, attention, any thoughts? --_

-

 ** _bun_**  🍞  
 **@** **hxlvetica**

_oh my god, two of the hottest guys in the whole school kissing?? hell YES_

-

 ** _well_**    
 **@** **cringlo**

_i had no idea he swung that way but aight_

-

**_yoyo~_ **   
**@yoyofroyo**

_i. love. bet week. so. MUCH_

**-**

**_winning_** ❣️  
 **@taedebo**

_wait a second, jiwon dated me two years ago...if he's gay does that mean- DO I LOOK LIKE A GUY???_

_- **@dong_ii** aede darling he's bi, it's okay _   
_- **@taedebo** OHHHH OK 😭😭😭_

-

_dong dong he hasn't replied yet -_   
_this was a mistake wasn't it WASN'T IT -_   
_I'm on my way to school and I -_   
_WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO -_   
_he thinks im an idiot dont he -_

_\- hyung everyone thinks you're an idiot_   
_\- but i don't actually think he's awake yet_

_WAIT SO IVEBEEN STRESSING OUT THE WHOLE MORNING -_   
_AND YOURE TELLING ME HES NOT EVEN AWAKE -_

_\- yes_

_I can't believe I love him so much that I'm going to forgive him for this immense amount of stress he's put me under. he doesn't deserve me -_

_\- junhoe barely knows of your existence hyung_

_SHUTUP DID ANYONE ASK U?? -_

_\- OH! got some news for you my dude, hanbin texted me_

_oof u guysr getting comfy huh ;) -_

_\- shut up...but ouch, hyung, guess what?_

_what? -_   
_what?? -_

_\- junhoe doesn't use twitter anymore_   
_\- hyung?_   
_\- where did you go_

_ARE YOU ACTUALLY FUCKING KIDDING ME -_

Jiwon really wasn't looking forward to going to school anymore. He was only just outside the building, but one person had already passed him with a pat on the back, calling out a bright, amazingly genuine, "Great bet, dude, you gonna romance him up on the roof?" and Jiwon had wanted to die inside let alone give an answer to that.

So things weren't going as well as he hoped, because he had no idea that he'd regret this so fast.

Once Junhoe stepped foot into the school, he'd know. He'd know what was going on. He'd confront Jiwon and probably be so offended that Jiwon would have to run off and cry in the bathrooms - all very non macho things and Jiwon was dreading even seeing Junhoe's face, and Junhoe's face was sometimes the _only_ thing that would bring his spirits up. Things had changed, though. Overnight.

He looked up from his phone, contemplating whether he should go inside. He knew Donghyuk was in there waiting for him but he was terrified about bumping into Junhoe. Except the guy wasn't awake yet, according to seven minutes ago. So Jiwon waited. He'd only take a few minutes. If he was a bit late to registration then there was no chance he'd care-

Then he saw him. The guy a hundred metres away with messy hair and slightly bumbling slow steps, head down, earphones, bag slung lazily over one shoulder. And Jiwon absolutely _bolted._

"DONGHYUK!" Jiwon yelled as he burst into his classroom, racing straight into his best friend not without crashing into him and sending them both to the ground.

"OW!"

"THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOU! I'M FREAKING OUT!"

Donghyuk blew some hair out of his face, glaring up at Jiwon who looked down at him. "Get off of me then we can talk."

Jiwon frowned but complied, slowly rolling off of Donghyuk to starfish across the floor and Donghyuk propped himself up using his elbow, looking at Jiwon with a raised eyebrow. "You know you have like five minutes before the teacher comes? Maybe go to the lockers and get your books?"

"I can do that once I know for certain that I'm going to classes because I'm seriously considering hiding out in the bathrooms forever."

"You really need to start thinking before you act."

"That's what _you're_ here for! You know I'm a mess when I don't have you!"

Donghyuk rolled his eyes, pulling Jiwon up who slowly complied, desolately resting against a table leg. "Look. You can still pull this off. You can do any and every bet known to mankind, I know you. I hate to say this but you _have_ to go talk to him, like...now. You'll have to do it sooner or later, even just for the bet."

Jiwon bit his lip, looking down at the ground. "Fine...it's just stupid that _I_ decided to play with my heart like this. Me. Not anyone else. Why do I like him so much? You know what, I really am gonna go to the bathrooms..."

"Promise me you'll come out of there before your first class?"

Jiwon smiled weakly, reaching out to hook a pinky with Donghyuk's. "I promise the second class at the most."

All Jiwon was going to do was wash his face and give himself a pep talk but that ended up even being too much to handle. In no time, he was running around the room, punching cubicle doors and silently yelling at himself about how much of an _idiot_ he was before freezing the instant he heard the door swing open. His soul left him for many reasons, the embarrassment, the fact that he was probably looking like a terrified squirrel, and...him. Just him.

"H-Hey," Jiwon said shakily, trying to smile as he swallowed the lump in his throat. And Junhoe actually smiled back, taking down his hood to let his hair completely free, and Jiwon wanted to let out the biggest dreamy sigh. "So, uh...I'm sure you've heard. Go ahead. Yell at me."

Junhoe paused from where he was in front of one of the mirrors, about to do his hair by the looks of it. Jiwon could see his distressed expression in the reflection. "What?"

"Y-You haven't...no-one's told you?"

"Did like a weird picture of me come out? It's probably photoshopped, okay," Junhoe sighed, combing his hands through his hair and Jiwon widened his eyes, straightening up a little. Did Junhoe actually...not know? Oh. _Oh._ "And I wouldn't know. I've blocked more numbers than I can count, I don't think I talk to anyone but my parents."

"Oh but...friends?"

"I don't have their numbers. I just go to their houses if I want them out of school. Which isn't often. Maybe I _should_ have their numbers...well, it's too late to ask now."

Jiwon blinked. Wow. Junhoe was so cool, and weird, and _so_ pretty right now from where he was styling himself and God, Jiwon needed to fan himself.

"Though," Junhoe said, slowly putting a hairbrush down onto the sink counter with a soft but resounding 'clank' and Jiwon's heart felt suspended. "I do have Yunhyeong-hyung's number."

Now Jiwon knew he was done for. Yunhyeong has quoted his tweet and everything and now what, _now what-_

"He did tell me to talk to you."

There it was. Imaginary glass shattering. Bombs dropping. Fireworks. Jiwon's heart slowly shrivelling up into a ball.

"D-Did he say what about?"

"I don't think so," Junhoe muttered, a bit distracted as he slapped some water onto his face. "Don't mind how I look, I overslept..." 

"You look great," Jiwon said absent-mindedly, floating over and Junhoe's eyes flickered over to him through the mirror. Jiwon stayed his distance. But it felt so much closer than he had ever been. "Then I guess I should...propose it to you now."

_IDIOT IDIOT IDIOT IDIOT-_

"Propose what?"

"You see, I, kind of, asked you to do a bet with me on Twitter?"

Junhoe's eyes were wide now as his hand stilled against his cheek. There was nothing cuter but Jiwon's heart was beating too fast for him to enjoy it. "O-Oh. Me? Like... _me?!_ Why me?"

Jiwon shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "Just for fun. And because you're hot."

Junhoe actually turned to face Jiwon now, eyes wide and Jiwon had to bite down to stop himself from laughing because yes, he was an idiot but quite a brave idiot, you have to say. "What the hell was the bet, Kim?"

"Nothing raunchy! Seriously! It's do with heights."

Junhoe immediately paled a little and Jiwon almost winced. The regret was coming back. "What?"

"I bet you that I couldn't...get you to a high place that was open-roof like above four metres..." Jiwon watched Junhoe's face through the mirror and it was getting more and more shocked. "And the wager was that you'd uhhhhh kiss me?"

There was silence for a moment. Junhoe was staring at him so hard that Jiwon felt like he was being melted, and Jiwon felt so damn terrified and the two things were not a good mix and he really felt like he could potentially throw up - but then Junhoe was slamming his hand down next to Jiwon. "I'll do it."

Jiwon finally turned to look at him now, pretty certain that he hadn't heard right. "Wait, could you repeat that?" 

"I'll do it, just because I know you won't win," Junhoe said so confidently that it ignited a bit of Jiwon's adrenaline as he took a step closer.

"That's a mighty big thing to say to a bet winner with my perfect record."

"No no but you don't understand. I won't even need to try to avoid it, my body just reacts that way. It won't let me near any high place." 

"Okay, fine, I'll be the judge of that," Jiwon said firmly even though the words made him a little sad. Honestly, the dreams he's had before about him and Junhoe breaking into school after hours and holding hands on the roof while Jiwon showed him the sunset was all being dashed. "Then tell me what I'm gonna do if I lose, confident guy."

Junhoe grinned. "You, you have to have a date, with yourself. Alone. Conditions, you're gonna get all prettied up, you're gonna go to a nice restaurant, you'll get a table for two but it'll just be you. Ordering food for one. Everyone in the restaurant will see and you'll look pathetic."

"God, that's _mean,_ " Jiwon gasped, stars in his eyes. He had never been surer that he was in love with Junhoe. "Were you thinking that all up while we were talking? I like it. So, do we have a bet?"

Junhoe nodded, and Jiwon wondered why he looked so extra beautiful right now. Maybe it was because he looked happy. He was glowing. "I've never been involved in a bet before, this is...new..."

"I can guide you through it! You'll kind of be seeing more of me now. I think."

Junhoe's eyes pierced Jiwon in a way that was almost examining him, his smile smaller now but still there. "Looking forward to it."

And Jiwon knew Junhoe was only saying that as a pleasantry but for a moment, he _believed_ it. He believed it, and it made him happier than he should have, just like anything Junhoe did but this was new. This was a new feeling, it was...contentment. Because he was getting somewhere.

Junhoe was looking forward to seeing him.

After Jiwon left the bathroom, he walked, and walked, and walked...and when he was far enough, he yelled out at the ceiling, "YOU THE MAN, GOD, I _LOVE_ YOU, LIKE HOW DO YOU LET ME GET SO LUCKY?!"  

A moment later, Donghyuk was peeking his head out of the door. "Miss heard that and she thinks you're high."

Jiwon nodded vigorously. "She's right. I'm high on love."

Donghyuk smiled, pulling on Jiwon's arm to get him in but not without patting his back, a small 'well done' and Jiwon knew he deserved that. Now, time to plan. Time to make this bet worth his heart and Junhoe's time.

###

"So here's my plan," Jiwon said, throwing a piece of paper at Donghyuk's face and Donghyuk blinked, slowly watching the paper fall onto the table. Then he looked up at Jiwon.

"Why are you like this?"

"Just read it!"

Donghyuk sighed but complied, setting down his sandwich as Jiwon slid into the seat opposite him. Donghyuk squinted at the paper, reading, "First step, become his friend...where's the rest?"

Jiwon threw his arms out, feeling very proud of himself. "That's it!"

"You," Donghyuk said, resting the piece of paper against the table, "never fail to remind me that you're an idiot. This is the least elite plan you've ever made yet this is the bet that has the _most_ stakes out of all of the ones you've ever done."

"No but, look, there _is_ a plan in this. I'll become his friend and he'll trust me and maybe he'll let me take him up somewhere just based off that."

"That sounds so sketchy, hyung."

"Hey! It's not like he _doesn't_ _know_ what I'm doing, I'm basically saying that he'll end up liking me so much that he'll let me win!" 

"Oh! Yeah, that's not sketchy, that's just unrealistic!"

Jiwon pouted, punching Donghyuk in the shoulder. "Yes, I _know_. But I'm still going to try. I can't be too sneaky or dodgy, not when it comes to this because I don't think my weak heart can handle many things. Why do you think I don't tell you that I love you as much as I should?"

Donghyuk's eyes grew big and all shiny. "That's so...sweet."

"Wait, you _believed_ that? Damn, I'll get Junhoe on my side in no time!" Jiwon cheered while Donghyuk deflated, rolling his eyes as he stuffed the last bit of his sandwich in his mouth and took out something from his pocket that had Jiwon tilting his head in confusion.

"Is that...lip tint?"

"Mhm," Donghyuk said as he put a little on, smiling at Jiwon who felt very confused. "I'm gonna leave you now because any second of the day is another chance to seduce Hanbin."

"Ohh, _that's_ what this is about. Have fun."

"Thank you, babe," Donghyuk hummed, sending Jiwon a wink as he got up and Jiwon had to say, Donghyuk was ridiculously good at this. And, seeing Hanbin's slight short bursts of panic whenever Donghyuk went near him was always fun to see. But then Jiwon's eyes caught onto something else. A tall lone figure, walking across the hall. Hands in pockets. Perhaps, it was Jiwon's time to shine.

"JUNHOE!" Jiwon yelled, racing over to the guy and he didn't quite realise that that would make Junhoe stop walking and turn to the source of his name being shouted because Jiwon was dumb, and all he did notice was Junhoe staring at him with widening eyes before they crashed, straight to the floor. The second time for Jiwon today.

How on earth was this going so badly already?

Jiwon tried to catch his breath, slowly opening his eyes and squeaking when he saw Junhoe below him, sprawled out and wincing. Jiwon's breaths sped up which was unfortunate because he was trying so hard to speak, to say sorry, and dear lord why was Junhoe's nose so _perfect-_

"So in order to get me someplace high, you sent me to the ground?" Junhoe asked, raising an eyebrow and Jiwon grimaced at himself. "What does this tactic symbolise?"

"Uh...reverse psychology?"

"Nice save, horrible at lying."

"Well you- you're smarter than you look!" Jiwon rebutted bitterly as he sat up, making Junhoe gasp out in offence as he pushed Jiwon away and Jiwon pushed him back before accidentally losing his balance but Junhoe got hold of his arm before he'd end up face-first on the floor. Jiwon swallowed, quiet for a second before muttering, "I don't think we're in an ideal position to be petty."

"Yes, I agree."

They quickly scrabbled to get up, brushing themselves off and then Junhoe was speaking again far too soon for Jiwon's liking. "So, why did you...why were you even going after me?"

"I thought we could maybe hang out this lunch."

This was a terrible moment for Jiwon to realise that he was getting further than he had for almost an entire _year_ and it was just because of a bet. But the motive was allowing him to realise that he was actually able to do this, he was _able_ to talk to Junhoe in some kind of way that wasn't completely out of the ordinary, even if he'd mess up along the way. So why hadn't he done it sooner?

"Are you sure? I'm going across the street," Junhoe said slowly, sounding all sorts of confused and Jiwon inwardly gasped.

"Look at you, bad boy Junhoe, leaving the _school_. Wow."

"Oh shut up, I just get too bored. Just...come with me," Junhoe muttered, looking a little shy but that could be a trick of the light. He tuned around, taking long strides and Jiwon tried not to hurry to follow, wanting to stay neutral and nonchalant, but it was difficult to stay calm when Junhoe smiled the instant fresh air hit him.

That was one of the smiles that inhabited Jiwon's heart and it made him wonder, just how long it would take until Junhoe would notice just how in love this mediocre dude who resorted to terrible bets was with him.

"So this is what you do?" Jiwon asked as they laid back against grass, right in the middle of an empty field below the blue sky. Junhoe was eating a sandwich but Jiwon wasn't quite hungry yet. "Every lunch?"

"Oh, no. I usually come here sometimes after school but I thought bringing you here wouldn't be too bad."

"That cloud looks like a stapler."

"I don't see that at all."

"Your mind doesn't have the capacity-"

"Hyung!"

"Ah, I'm sorry! I'm used to saying stuff like that!"

"Yeah, I've realised...though, I don't actually know which year you're in."

"Me? I'm a senior."

"Ah. You're older."

"Junhoe, you call me hyung."

"Oh yeah. I do do that."

Jiwon snorted, giving Junhoe an odd look for a split second before turning back to the sky. He couldn't see the stapler in the cloud anymore. The grass felt so cool against his skin and he could just fall asleep here, right in this small world of beautiful specimens all around him like songbirds and blossom trees and Junhoe.

"How did bet week start?" Junhoe asked suddenly, and Jiwon opened his eyes, already fizzing with slight pride.

"Well, my brother started it back when he was in this school, actually."

"Of course it runs in your family," Junhoe muttered, making Jiwon grin.

"He wanted to make a free, easy, not-toxic version of betting and it actually started as a Psychology experiment to prove that betting didn't have to be all that bad."

"That's really cool."

"Of course because we are _definitely_ the coolest Kims in Korea, there's no argument there," Jiwon said with a smug nod and Junhoe smiled, rolling to the side a little. "My dad aces like every life skill out there, he fixed someone's tyre this morning when he saw them struggling on the street. Who does that?! _My_ dad. And Mom is just- she's cool. Just as her, just being herself. She's just cool." 

"I'm not doubting you."

"Bet week kept going because it was just so popular, and my brother was best friends with the student body president. Just like...me," Jiwon said, surprised for a second because he'd never made that connection. "A-And then proper rules got into place, because before the only rule was that you can't bet using money wagers. There's a whole history, there used to be a thing where someone would get crowned bet king or queen but then it got dangerous with individual people doing too many bets and too extravagant ones...so that got scrapped. Now it's just between houses."

"We're in the same house, right?"

"Absolutely. SALMONS FOREVER!" Jiwon hollered out into the sky and Junhoe snickered as he reached out to knock fists with Jiwon, sending the smallest spurt of electricity, or _something_ down Jiwon's arm. "Well, we don't usually win at stuff so...I hope we have a shot this year, at least."

"Hey, we win at some sports sometimes! Baseball this year? Have some house spirit!"

"I have tons! I mean, I don't like the taste of salmons though."

"Then that's good because believe in the spirit of a live, happy salmon swimming down a stream instead of a dead one." 

"That was...oddly impactful..."

They watched the sky for a bit longer. Jiwon began to realise that Junhoe seemed closer than he had been before, but that could just be his mind having processed the wrong information because that had definitely happened before. When he looked down, he could see Junhoe's arm flopping against the ground, with a hand. A lonely hand. But it wouldn't ever be waiting for Jiwon's hand to keep it company.

"You should eat."

"In a minute." _Just wait for me to finish drowning in my patheticism._

"Why do you sound sad now?" Junhoe asked, voice mild and Jiwon hoped that was concern in his tone.

"I'm not, I'm not. It's fine."

Junhoe knocked his fist against Jiwon's hand again but softer this time. As soft as how the grass tickled bare skin, so Jiwon didn't notice it. "Let's go, then."

"But you've made me realise the true worth of cloudgazing and now I'm addicted."

"Then we can do it more some other time. Duh," Junhoe snorted, rolling over onto his stomach to sit up and check his phone, so casual while Jiwon was clocking Junhoe's words and he was pretty sure every cell in his body was cursing like crazy because fuck, Junhoe actually wanted to do this AGAIN- "Damn it, we're two minutes past the bell. Come on!"

"Oh but we're in dif- _gah!"_ Jiwon yelped as Junhoe pulled him up, and then they were both running, racing across the streets and Jiwon giggled when Junhoe kept shouting everytime he narrowly missed bashing into something, but he was so agile for how tall he was, and Jiwon was...not. He'd be faring even worse if he was in front but he wasn't, and Junhoe was holding onto the hem of his jacket, and Jiwon could pretend that they were two star-crossed lovers running from society.

_Too far? Too far._

Jiwon hissed shushes at Junhoe as they walked through the school very slowly, as if it was a bomb ready to explode which wasn't an exaggeration. Junhoe found his homeroom soon enough and suddenly, they were thrown into a 'send off your date well at their door' situation. Neither of them spoke at first, not knowing how to part since they had never done this before.

"You-"

"We-"

"You go first."

"No, you."

"Well, I'm surprised that you didn't force me to climb a building," Junhoe said, and Jiwon grinned, looking down. "I don't quite know what your tactic is here? And we talked so much that I don't think I ever finished my food."

"I didn't even get to start mine, darling." _Shit, no, why'd I tack that on the end, NO-_

"O-Oh, sorry," Junhoe said, a little flustered as he ran a hand through his hair and Jiwon's attention was back on him, wondering what he had missed. "Eat soon."

"I will."

"Cool."

"Bye."

"See you."

And right then, the bell rang causing them both to jolt and in seconds, students were bursting out of the rooms in swarms, scattering across the halls and Junhoe and Jiwon were caged in as they had to jump apart. They looked at each other for a moment, wide eyes before Jiwon was being jostled off against his own accord and all he could do was wave. He had no idea if Junhoe waved back, but he had to turn around and run so he wouldn't get smushed, and luckily he found Donghyuk at the lockers talking to Hanbin.

"You don't need to come if you're busy," Hanbin said worriedly but Donghyuk shook his head, playing with Hanbin's tie.

"Hey, I'm not ditching the team."

"If _any_ of the guys give you _any_ shit then I'll yell at them so hard that they won't-"

Hanbin fell quiet the instant Donghyuk kissed his cheek, lingering for a moment as he rested his hands on Hanbin's chest. "I can handle myself."

Hanbin nodded, resting his forehead against Donghyuk's as he sighed, "I know."

"See you later."

"Mhm."

The instant Hanbin was gone, Jiwon ran straight at Donghyuk like a madman, yelling out, "WHAT THE FUCK-"

"Language," Donghyuk called out like the president he was before grinning. "Now what about what?"

"You and Hanbin, like- are you a THING or- whAT-"

"No, no we're not a thing. I think I'm just doing a little too well," Donghyuk replied, though there wasn't as much cheek in his smile this time around. "Also, that was about the match on Friday."

Jiwon immediately came down from his high. "Huh, what, what match?"

"Soccer. Don't worry, I've already bought you a ticket," Donghyuk assured, patting Jiwon's back. "Did you have a nice lunch? You kind of disappeared."

"Oh yeah, it was oh, just the best," Jiwon said weakly, trying to lean against the lockers coolly. "Absolutely. So, if you could point me to where my locker is because I _honestly_ still think everything looks the same in this school, I should be on my way."

Donghyuk rolled his eyes but waved a hand to the left, allowing Jiwon to give him two thumbs up before rushing off. Wondering if today had meant anything. 

- 

**_ji_ **   
**@bobbyranika**

_i really love boys. like really. they so cute. why. how._

_- **@dong_ii** witnessing a rare moment of kim jiwon being as gay as me on social media _

_- **@yoyofroyo** yeah, we really are cute ^^_


	3. thursday

Jiwon was sitting at his desk early in the morning, messy-haired and uncaring as he had one knee pulled up into his chest. He had been woken up by the annoying building work next door, only leading to him falling off the bed and, on Jiwon's terms, pain + noise = no chance of sleep.

His head was lolling against the chair back as he scrolled through his phone, but he stopped when his weary eyes managed to catch onto something. Since when did Junhoe have an instagram? Why hadn't Jiwon ever thought to stalk him like this and find out earlier? Gosh, he was really bad at this crush thing.

He pressed his profile, smiling at the obnoxiously sweet username, and his bio was just his name and the words _'professional phoney of being a model, poet and jiujitsuka'_ which made Jiwon smile bigger. He could only bother to lazily scroll, knowing full well that he'd pore over this another time but right now he was tired and even a glimpse of Junhoe's face would make his whole day better. It definitely worked. Each selfie was too gorgeous, in whatever lighting, whatever circumstance, and Jiwon had to stop himself from kissing the screen.

He started to understand the bio soon enough as he saw posts of poems and Junhoe in a jiujitsu outfit littered throughout his feed. He knew Junhoe did the latter, _everyone_ knew that, but poems...he found an old one, and decided to read it.

_Ocean_

_I'm starting to discern what they deny as water with flourish so elegant drifts backwards, so serene and eloquent._

_The grace can change in a blink of an eye and wild tempests and deluge fill one's mind._

_Air becomes dense and touch indelicate as rage forms a wall so intricate._

_Rage for who? This planet? And all our lies._

_They all say that this ocean is beauty where hope lies and perfection resides,_

_But the desolate, harsh chaos I see lacerating all which is caught in sight subverts all their words so quickly, so free._

_Secrets once discreet wash up with the tide._

"But...I-I like oceans," Jiwon said quietly, slightly terrified, and he quickly started scrolling up to try and find something sweeter to make him feel better. A recent one seemed promising.

_i don't really know you but_

_transcendence: existence beyond the human level_

_aurora: a luminescent phenomenon_

_serendipity: the occurrence of events happening by chance in a beneficial way_

_denouement: the resolution of mystery_

_scintilla: a spark, or a very small trace of a feeling_

_logophile: a lover of words; me_

_kalon: beauty that is more than skin-deep; you._

It was perfect. Jiwon closed his phone with a smile and leant back in his chair, closing his eyes for a moment. And that had to be the exact time that his alarm for when he was supposed to wake up went off and he snorted at the irony, slowly rolling off of his chair to collapse softly on the ground, letting out a sleepy raspy noise from deep in his throat. Well. School was going to be fun today. 

###

It seemed that Jiwon had got his mojo back. Everywhere he went, he challenged people to quickfire bets: "I bet you can't balance this on your nose!", "I bet you can't get a crush on someone in five minutes", "I bet you can't eat this chilli then last a minute without water!". It was some of the best fun that Jiwon had, allowing him to realise that he was going to really miss this in three days time.

"There's our bet giant, what's taken you so long to emerge from your bog?" Donghyuk said amusedly when Jiwon ran over to him and Hanbin who were lounging under a tree in the courtyard, Hanbin's head in Donghyuk's lap. Jiwon nodded excitedly before giving Hanbin a look but Hanbin only opened his eyes a sliver and shot Jiwon with a finger gun.

"Well, I don't know, yesterday I was too scared and it was all like admin with Junhoe and before that my juices were like evaporated or somethin but now they're back and man, I'm _killing_ this. Like look- Hanbin, I bet you won't kiss Donghyuk right now."

Hanbin froze while Donghyuk blanched in astonishment and quickly shook his head. "Hyung, pardon my language but what the _fuck-_ "

"Time's ticking," Jiwon said brightly, grinning because he knew it wasn't going to happen when Hanbin was such an affirmed coward. Donghyuk grimaced, looking down at Hanbin who seemed to be slowly defrosting.

"Seriously, don't listen to him. You don't have to."

"I know," Hanbin murmured, but not even a second later, he was reaching up to curl an arm around Donghyuk's neck and pull him down. Donghyuk's eyes grew so big and Jiwon couldn't help but let out a laugh of disbelief, covering his eyes as the others' lips met, and Donghyuk's instincts had him pinning Hanbin's wrists to the ground.

"Hyung, te-tell me to stop or I won't," Donghyuk whispered against his lips and Hanbin smiled, taking hold of Donghyuk's collar.

"Then don't."

"Oh shit, I'm leaving," Jiwon said to no-one in particular as he walked off from the _horrifyingly_ explicit content, and he made a split-second decision to _not_ log that bet in the book because he had lost it and well, that wouldn't help his reputation. Besides, would Hanbin and Donghyuk care? Hell, Donghyuk should _thank_ him, Jiwon had just helped him like mad-

_Oh gosh. Target acquired._

Jiwon instantly ran to hide behind a tree and just about peeked out to watch Junhoe who was casually walking across the courtyard, alone, slowly. Very suspicious. Jiwon's eyes followed him for a moment before he realised that Junhoe was going to disappear around the corner and he panicked, quickly rushing out from behind the tree to try and follow him as quietly as he could. Then he realised that maybe it wouldn't be best to ambush Junhoe in a creepy way, because the first time (crashing into him like an absolute blockhead) hadn't been great either.

_So, make it casual! Act like you guys are friends, you bonded yesterday! Though, he's probably forgotten- no! Win Bet mode, not Pathetic Crush mode!_

Junhoe was tall, _and_ he was on the move so Jiwon would need to execute this perfectly. He needed to, but he obviously wouldn't, because when did he ever think about things? He just rushed over to Junhoe and slowed down at the last minute before reaching his arms out and clamping his hands over Junhoe's eyes, making Junhoe let out the most _ungodly_ scream in the world. Jiwon almost choked on how hard it was to control his laughter.

"Guess who!"

"Hyung, I will tackle you to the ground in three seconds."

"You guessed right!" Jiwon cheered, throwing his arms out and Junhoe turned around, looking at him curiously.

"What are you doing?"

"Saying hi, what do you think I'm doing?"

"That's it? You sure you don't want to throw me into that tree?" Junhoe asked with a raised eyebrow, pointing to the one next to them and Jiwon had no idea what he was talking about until he remembered their bet.

"Ohhhh no, no. I'm good."

"Yeah, I'm sure you are."

"Where are you going?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"I don't know. Small talk."

"Oh. I was going to the art rooms. There's always at least one that's free."

"So...could I, perhaps, join you?" Jiwon proposed, hopeful and it must've shown on his face because Junhoe gave him a slightly weirded out look.

"I mean, it's whatever. I'm going there to like...sleep."

"Okay so tell me what you rather want. Sleep, or the company of the best person ever?"

"The latter would be nice but I don't think Michael Jackson is quite available," Junhoe sighed, making Jiwon narrow his eyes and elbow him. Junhoe smiled at the ground after, kicking it a little. "I still have no idea why you're making this kind of effort to be with me."

"I wanna be friends. That's all," Jiwon said, even though it hurt his heart a little, and curious eyes were back on him. "It'll only work if you want it to, I guess, so you know you can always tell me to go away."

"No," Junhoe replied quickly, shaking his head. "Don't go away. You're weird but we can be friends."

Jiwon almost choked again. "Never anything but straightforward, huh?"

Turned out that nearly all the art rooms were empty this time around. Jiwon wanted to just choose the closest one but Junhoe kept walking and Jiwon had no choice but to follow. Jiwon understood why, in the end, because Junhoe ended up choosing the art room where almost the entire left wall was window leading out to a view of the school's lake. Sunlight, lilypads, that small waterfall, and Jiwon remembered how much he loved this room.

"Pretty, right?"

"Yeah...it was where my class was last year. I miss it."

Junhoe was setting his bag on a table, opening it up before taking a notebook out and removing the pen behind his ear which Jiwon hadn't even noticed. "Hey, I thought you were going to sleep."

"Changed my mind," Junhoe hummed as he took a seat, hitching his legs up onto the table and resting the notebook on his lap. Jiwon raised an eyebrow before slowly taking a seat himself. Then getting up.

"What the hell are you doing?" Junhoe asked a minute later when he looked over at Jiwon who was slowly dragging the chair over, the metal of the legs sounding jarring against the stone floor. Jiwon blinked, stilling at the question, then he decided to pick up the chair, rest it down right next to Junhoe, take a seat, and grin in triumph. The four steps to victory.

"That. I was doing that."

Okay, Jiwon was kind of starting to understand why Junhoe thought he was weird.

"You write poems?" Jiwon questioned once he caught sight of what was on the page Junhoe was looking at, trying to sound surprised and Junhoe shrugged.

"Does it look like one?"

"Yeah."

"Then yes."

"You could've just said that the first time, you egg. What do you even write about?"

"Oh, anything. So many things. Random objects. Random existential thoughts. Random people." Junhoe then looked at Jiwon, and the surprise factor made Jiwon's ears instantly tinge red and he had to look away, hoping that his gaze hadn't seemed like he was staring. "I've actually written a poem about you."

Jiwon seized up, mind going into a sense of suspension while his heart-rate did the exact opposite, skyrocketing. "W-Wha- huh...? Say that again?"

"I said I write about random people and sometimes it gets _really_ random, okay?" Junhoe muttered, sketching something rapidly and Jiwon realised he was drawing to match his poem. "If a person's interesting..."

Jiwon bit his lip, looking down at his lap. So, apparently weird could also mean interesting. Wasn't that a good thing? Like, _really_ good? He wondered what sort of poem Junhoe would have written, if it was about him. Maybe it was about rain. Or the way he was always yelling at Donghyuk. Or how Jiwon always had a habit to daydream. Not that Junhoe would know that.

Jiwon just had to remember that this still didn't mean anything. Random people, Junhoe had said. For all Jiwon knew, Junhoe could have also written about Margaret Thatcher. _She_ had sure been interesting too.

"Hey, come on. Let's do something fun, we're both art students, right?" Jiwon said with a grin and Junhoe furrowed his eyebrows at him, slowly nodding. That was the cue for Jiwon to get up and go to the side where some of the equipment was, and he hummed thoughtfully as he looked through them all, wondering what he should take. In the end, he grabbed some paint brushes and a handful of small tubes of paint, and Junhoe stared at him in amazement once he turned back around.

"Hyung, what- you know how expensive that stuff is, right?"

"Junhoe, this paint is so cheap that it's not even branded. You've worked with this stuff before, fight me on this."

"No, you're sadly right."

"Then come on, coward!" Jiwon called out excitedly, hopping onto the windowsill at the other end of the room before turning on his heel to hold his arms out to Junhoe, trying for appeasement. "I did _not_ mean that. At all. You're not a coward. You're great. Don't listen to me-"

"Shut up," Junhoe snorted but he did really walk over and slowly start getting up onto the windowsill, and Jiwon held out a hand to help him as he realised that Junhoe wasn't quite a goody-two-shoes so he didn't have to be surprised about him rebelling. But he was surprised about something else.

"Look at you," Jiwon said softly as Junhoe finally balanced himself on the windowsill and held onto Jiwon tight. "You're up three feet above the ground."

Junhoe's eyes grew a little in realisation, and his grip on Jiwon grew even tighter but Jiwon didn't mind. "I...gracious, I _am_. Wait, can we like g-get back down again-"

"No, no, you got yourself here and you're not going down yet. You're making progress," Jiwon said, smiling, before he held out a paintbrush and a blue paint tube. "Now let's vandalise."

"We're gonna be murdered," Junhoe said even though he was grinning, and Jiwon only shrugged as he shook a purple tube and squirted it onto the window, dipping his paintbrush in to swirl it into a flyaway heart.

"Remarkably, I don't care."

They painted all sorts of things, some that were quite fabulous to look at, some that were kind of mediocre, and some where you would never guess were made by someone who had taken even _one_ class in art. And they never even let go of each other's hands. Jiwon realised and it made him blush, but then he realised that Junhoe needed it. He could do this, for Junhoe. And if he forgot about his weak racing heart.

Junhoe was making a pretty decent self portrait until Jiwon came in to add some big purple front teeth that had Junhoe snickering. "What, is this our lovechild or something?!"

"Can't limit the imagination, I know I'm out of your league but us in an alternate paint universe _could_ have had sex!"

Junhoe burst into scandalised giggles, turning red as he fanned himself and dear lord did Jiwon want to keep this memory locked inside his heart forever. "Th-That wasn't even what I was thinking about, i-it was that- men can't like get _pregnant-_ "

"Well, everything's possible in alternate universes, duh," Jiwon said matter-of-factly, bopping Junhoe's nose with the end of his paintbrush and Junhoe gasped, immediately swiping at Jiwon's cheek which had Jiwon's mouth dropping when he felt the wetness of the paint. "Oh, you wanna _go?"_

"The only place both of you will be going is detention."

Junhoe instantly froze while Jiwon slowly turned his head, gulping when he saw a teacher standing at the door and she looked absolutely horrified. "Oh hey! We were just-"

"Do you really have the audacity to 'explain yourself'? You'll both be cleaning this up today after school. Go," she said but she sounded so shocked that she didn't come across as stern at all. Jiwon was trying so hard not to laugh as he jumped off and quickly rushed out, with Junhoe having no choice but to follow as their hands were still connected and wasn't this déjà vu?

"Wasn't that fun?! Your parents won't kill you, right?"

"Nah, this isn't my first," Junhoe managed to say, a little windswept and Jiwon patted his back.

"That's my boy. Okay, where-"

The bell cut through his sentence, leaving Jiwon deflating as he wished this didn't have to always happen. Even though it had only happened twice. These moments with Junhoe were so chaotic, dreamlike, perfect, and it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that he couldn't experience it more, because they weren't friends, were they? Junhoe probably only saw Jiwon as a spontaneous burst of crazy and weird.

"I'll see you," Junhoe said, letting go of Jiwon who nodded, shoving his hand in his pocket.

"Yeah."

"After school, I guess, with the detention and all. See you then."

And immediately, Jiwon felt happier again. "Oh...oh, that's right! Yeah. See you."

Junhoe smiled at him, the exact heart-crushing smile that would make Jiwon swoon (if he dared to be that weak in public), walking backwards for a moment before he turned around and jogged off. Jiwon let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Only three days left.

_You can do it, and if you can't? At least you were able to act like you meant something to him for a while._

###

"I can actually in no way believe you."

"Really? I'm pretty sure I've done worse, Dong," Jiwon said, putting his books into his locker and Dong scrunched up his face.

"Oh blah blah blah, rebellious bad boy Jiwon - this was just plain stupid! _And_ you got caught!"

"Okay look, I only got caught because I was too caught up in Junhoe, I forgot to be careful and that's honestly fine! Detentions don't mean anything to either of us. We'll have the room looking spick and span in no time."

"I mean...if you want, I can probably get you both out of it-"

Jiwon immediately dropped his books and took hold of Donghyuk's collar, snarling, "Don't you _dare._ "

"Alright, lover boy, calm yourself," Donghyuk giggled, batting Jiwon's hands away. "Well, have fun, I guess. I'll buy the replacement paints today, okay?"

Jiwon grimaced. "Why are you a literal angel, it's honestly so gross?"

Donghyuk rolled his eyes, patting Jiwon's back before going on his way and Jiwon shook his head, reaching down to pick up the books he dropped and simply shoved them back into his locker before slamming it closed. He hadn't actually locked a locker since he was in freshman year and it was fine, no-one had stolen anything yet.

He went on his way back to the art rooms straight after, slinging his bag over his shoulder and he nodded at the teacher, a different one than before, and Junhoe wasn't there yet. He explained dryly about wanting the window cleaned but also paint palettes and brushes, organising equipment, and Jiwon only nodded and smiled, waving after the teacher gave him a scraper and left.

 _Well, maybe Junhoe won't come,_ Jiwon thought as he went into the stock cupboard to get out a dustpan and brush. _I wouldn't blame him._

The first five minutes were way more fun than Jiwon had anticipated. He got music up on his phone and put in his earphones, hopping up on a chair this time so it'd be a little less hazardous and for a moment, he just stared at their paintings and smiled. Junhoe had drawn quite a few words, randomly, and anyway, hangul was honestly pretty enough to be classed as art. _Fun. Daze. Scintilla._

Jiwon recognised that last word from somewhere.

He got to scraping. It was sad to see the purple and blue fall to the ground in waxy rolled up pieces but also weirdly pretty, and it became like some kind of artistic array on the floor that Jiwon would have to be bothered to clean up after.

"Hyung?"

Jiwon hummed along to the song, nodding his head slightly as he cleaned off the part he had just scraped with wipes that were tucked into his belt. This wasn't his first rodeo. But he blinked when he felt a hesitant hand tugging on the hem of his shirt and he quickly took one earbud out, looking down to see a sheepish Junhoe. "Sorry I'm late..."

"Oh, no- no, it's fine!" Jiwon replied immediately, taking out his other earbud now too before shoving them into his pocket. "Uh, you don't have to do what I'm doing. Teach wants palettes and paintbrushes washed, that okay?"

"Oh sure. Thanks."

Jiwon watched Junhoe set his bag down on the table and roll his sleeves up but gosh, that was already too much so Jiwon had to look away. He did sneak some other looks though. Junhoe had a really nice back...

"So-"

"I-"

They both shut up instantly, amazed before Jiwon said, "You go first," but Junhoe shook his head, muttering a small, "No you," and Jiwon now knew better than to make it go past two of these.

"I was starting to think you weren't coming, actually."

"Oh no, I...I don't know. I almost didn't. I didn't really think that the teachers would honestly track where I am and, um, I was feeling a little sick."

"What?" Jiwon asked, wide-eyed as he spun around on the chair, and his frenzied mind immediately registered how small Junhoe's voice had been all of the times he had spoken in the last while. "What kind of sick? Fever? Cold? Oh my God, Junhoe, of _course_ you can go home, don't be an idiot-"

"No!" Junhoe called out helplessly, turning around too to wave his wet hands about and drops flew. "Wait, I just- I just didn't want you to have to do all this alone and I still don't, I'm not gonna go anywhere. I'll be fine."

Jiwon narrowed his eyes, looking at Junhoe for a few moments. "You're not sick."

Junhoe blinked. "What?"

_This is creepy but, I'm borderline crazy about you. I worry about you, and I know the differences between you being tired or sad or ill._

"What happened?" Jiwon asked, softer this time as he hopped off of the chair and he walked a bit closer, remembering to keep his distance as Junhoe started to look nervous. "Is it about you? Or someone else? Anyone giving you shit because let me tell you, these fists can throw some kind of punch."

"Me and Hanbin were looking at the bet book," Junhoe said, rubbing his arm. His voice was still small and Jiwon didn't like it. "I just saw something that rubbed me the wrong way? That's all."

"Oh."

Jiwon's heart felt suspended and he had this overwhelming urge to have to try and make Junhoe feel better...but he didn't think he should pry, no matter how much curiosity might want to kill him. So he went for a different tactic.

"I mean, don't worry about it. People are really weird so of course there are gonna be obscene bets! Gosh I've seen the _strangest_ things in-"

"People think we fucked in here."

"WHAT?!" Jiwon screeched, voice skyrocketing in pitch and decibels and Junhoe winced. "BUT WE DIDN'T-"

"I know we didn't!" Junhoe yelped, fists clenched and Jiwon instantly fell quiet, surprised. "Someone spread the rumour online and now everyone believes it, apparently."

"Wait but, but- what was in the bet book related to this?"

"Someone betting that they could get me in bed with them by Sunday."

And that was it. Every cell in Jiwon's body was seeing red as he silently seethed, slamming the scraper onto a table and he could barely hear Junhoe calling his name in worry.

"I hate this fucking school."

Junhoe's eyes grew sad. "Hyung, no-"

"What, so they think you're cheap? Oh God, this was probably because of my bet wager. They'll think we have something going on. No that's no goddamn excuse, people are just the _worst,_ " Jiwon growled, so ready to smack up everyone in existence as he started storming out so he could conduct his rage on social media without Junhoe seeing his pathetic pettiness, but Junhoe took hold of the side of his shirt, saying, "Stop. Whatever you're going to do, it's not worth it."

"I'm gonna dispel the rumour and that's definitely worth it," Jiwon seethed, still irrevocably angry but Junhoe tugged on his shirt, shaking his head.

"Look, I'm livid too but do it later. Right now just get stuff done so you can get away from me quicker."

Jiwon blinked, frowning in confusion as he started simmering down a little. "What? Why would I want to get away from you?"

"What...things aren't weird between us yet?"

Jiwon slapped Junhoe's hands away, yelping a very decisive, "No!" and Junhoe looked like he was trying hard not to smile. "Junhoe, we literally _did not do anything_. Why would something non-existent make us awkward? We do that well enough _without_ a rumour."

"Hey, you can't say we're awkward anymore. Not since like...Wednesday. Which was yesterday, but still."

"Get back to me when I can touch you without planning it one hundred times in my head," Jiwon snorted, shaking his head and he actually felt better now, to the point that he hadn't really realised what he just said. He turned around to go back to scraping, but he froze when Junhoe blurted out, "You held my hand today."

Jiwon spun back around on his heel, giving Junhoe a raised eyebrow. "I'll give you that. Understand that was from me trying to make you feel safe, though."

"So you wouldn't do it again, when we're on low ground?"

"Probably not. It's weird, right?"

Junhoe grinned. "You find it weird for us to hold hands yet somehow the entire school body thinks we had sex. I love it."

Jiwon couldn't help but laugh even if his anger for that still hadn't gone away and he decided to be the underthinker he was, because what felt right couldn't turn out wrong. He held out his hand, trying to hide his smile as he said, "I know this is definitely _so_ 19+ explicit content but..."

Junhoe bit his lip, nodding as he slowly reached out for Jiwon's hand and once he got there, they both gasped in unison as if they had been burnt.

"Now, why isn't _this_ the talk of the town?! Oh my God, it's so hot, I need a fan," Jiwon wheezed out, pretending to faint against the sinks and Junhoe's laughs reaching his ears were probably better than what he was going to end up hearing at the gates of heaven. _Sorry, angels._

"You should go back to work."

"Oooooh, o-kay, _sir,_ " Jiwon scoffed in a judgy voice, side-eyeing Junhoe who had to cover his mouth to hold the laughter. Then Jiwon smiled, deciding to turn normal again. "I hope you feel better, though. I swear I'll clear it all up."

Junhoe nodded, eyes alight with gratitude. "Thank you."

It was actually quite painful to let go of Junhoe's hand. His heart was begging him not to, when a few days earlier his heart would have _failed_ on him if they had held hands, but Jiwon managed it before he went back to the window. They worked in silence. But it was more comfortable than it had ever been. Jiwon got into a work rhythm, scrape then wipe twice, and he got to Junhoe's self-portrait with Jiwon's added flair of buckteeth. Back when they were joking about alternate them having sex. Now people thought _non_ -alternate them had done it, and people were making _bets_ out of it.

Jiwon wanted to throw up.

He started sweeping up all the waxy scraped pieces once he was finished, and Junhoe looked mostly done with his washing up. Jiwon's eyes flicked over to the clock and he saw that two hours had passed already, _damn_ , he had been working slowly. He quickly swept and disposed of everything before hastily making everything in sight cleaner, and he was glad he had a knack for these things since he never wanted to burden his mother by having things messy. He could feel Junhoe giving him looks every now and then, probably ones saying 'why the hell is he so weird' and Jiwon could live with that.

"You wanna.............go?" Jiwon said five minutes later after watching Junhoe drying his hands, pausing for dramatic effect as he tried to look cool leaning against a cupboard, and Junhoe blinked at him. Jiwon now felt stupid.

"Sure."

Jiwon nodded, perking up and going over to the door, turning the door handle before leaving and- well, that's what he _would_ have done. If the door had opened. "Wait...what the..."

"What's wrong?" Junhoe asked from behind him and Jiwon really, really didn't want to answer. "What is it?"

"We're..." Jiwon tried again frantically but, still nothing. "Shit, Junhoe, we're locked in."

"Oh God," Junhoe whispered after a moment of silence and Jiwon nodded.

"Oh God indeed. Wait, hold up, lemme-" Jiwon turned around to face Junhoe and took out his phone from his pocket before groaning loudly, leaving Junhoe concerned.

"What-"

"My music's been playing this whole tiiiiiime," Jiwon whined, jumping up and down like an irritated toddler. "My phone has like _twenty_ percent...I hate iPhones...ugh, wait."

Jiwon went to his contacts, pressing Donghyuk's and he put the phone on speaker. The two rings were daunting, but Donghyuk was always picking up quickly and he didn't let Jiwon down this time as he soon called out a worried, "Hyung, what is it?" and Jiwon yelped, "Don't make it sound like I never call you!"

"You _do_ never call me! You just ambush me at my house!"

Jiwon looked at Junhoe nervously who was only grinning. "Don't say that, you _idiot-_ look, me and Junhoe are locked in. Junhoe, say hi."

Junhoe gave Jiwon a weird look but slowly said hello, and Donghyuk said a confused hi back. "Wait...why are you still with him? You don't have the balls to ask him out, so-"

"Dude, shut up?!" Jiwon screeched, wanting to tear his hair out and thank the lord Junhoe was only laughing at that. "Look, listen to my words, we're locked inside the art room."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yes and there are no other exits because this would be a terrible room when escaping from a fire. You have a skeleton key, right?"

"Yeah, I do. Gosh, I'll get there as quickly as possible, just wait there!"

"Where else would we go, moron?! And thank you, you're so great! Junhoe, say thank you!"

Junhoe gave him another weird look but this time with a smile as he followed the order, and then the call was over. They were alone. With each other. Trapped. No way to get out, unless they punched in the window, but Jiwon didn't want to stoop that low yet.

"Well, that's that," Jiwon sighed as he leant against the door and sank to the ground, legs stretched out helplessly. Junhoe looked down at Jiwon, and Jiwon looked up at him. The staring contest was short-lived as Jiwon patted the seat- well, part of the floor next to him. "Join me, fellow helpless locked-in Junhoe."

Junhoe did so, slowly, walking over Jiwon's legs carefully before taking a seat beside the guy and resting his head wearily against the wall. Jiwon gave him an empathetic look that Junhoe didn't see, and held out an earbud to him. "Let's milk my twenty percent and listen to music."

Junhoe tilted his head slightly to smile at him, nodding, and wow...Jiwon had done so, _so_ many things these past two days, so what was so hard about manning up and kissing Junhoe when there was _this_ small of a gap between them, when they were _this_ close, when Junhoe was _this_ kind of softly glowing, gorgeous specimen who deserved the kind of cherishing that Jiwon would give up so much for to give to him? Kissing Junhoe was, a dream. His dream.

But somehow, right now, having Junhoe smile at him and take hold of his earbud making their hands brush gently felt more than good enough. 

"I seriously didn't pin you for a Beyoncé guy," Junhoe laughed once Jiwon had pressed play and the elder shrugged.

"Every guy's a Beyoncé guy, some just deny or don't know it yet."

"Wise words."

Honestly, this song was bad timing. Jiwon cursed his worthless knowledge of English (okay it wasn't worthless at all but still, right now, yes it was) and he tried his best not to look at Junhoe.

**_Every night I rush to my bed_ **   
**_With hopes that maybe I'll get a chance to see you when I close my eyes._ **   
**_I'm going out of my head_ **   
**_Lost in a fairytale; can you hold my hands and be my guide?_ **

_Beyoncé, stop meddling with my thoughts, I don't need this._

" _Sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare,_ " Junhoe sang along quietly, bobbing his head and somehow that made it worse, Junhoe's pretty voice in his left ear and Beyoncé's in his right. " _Somebody pinch me-_ "

In a desperate attempt to make it less suffocating for himself, Jiwon _actually_ pinched Junhoe (very lightly!) which had Junhoe looking at him with raised eyebrows before leaning closer, singing sultrier, " _Your love's too good to be true._ "

Jiwon may be smitten but his competitive side always won out on anything, and two could play at this game.

" _My guilty pleasure, I ain't going nowhere,_ " Jiwon rasped softly, taking hold of Junhoe's shirt and the latter smirked, opening his mouth again before suddenly, the door was opening and there was saviour Donghyuk looking down at them blankly.

"This is why people think you're having sex."

"YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?!" Jiwon yelled, instantly pushing Junhoe to the side to hop up and grab Donghyuk by the collar yet again but the latter only rolled his eyes, saying, "Of course I do _now_ , and you better be doing something about it."

"Of course I'm doing something about it, shut up!"

"Why are you telling me to shut up-"

"Shut up, it's a force of habit!"

"Junhoe, let me take you home," Donghyuk said, smiling at the boy who was slowly standing up and brushing himself off.

"Oh n-no it's fine, I live super nearby. I'll walk."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

Junhoe and Jiwon shared a look for a moment but the instant Jiwon felt his face heating up, he looked away and apparently Junhoe looked away at the same time because Donghyuk seemed suspicious. "Honestly, what is happening between you two?"

"Friend stuff," Junhoe said while Jiwon said, "The extremely intricate art of bonding with a fellow delinquent in a detention circumstance which is very common."

Donghyuk stared at Jiwon in disgust. "I thought you were better than this."

Jiwon didn't know why, but neither him nor Junhoe could look at each other as they walked out of school. The goodbyes were short, and Jiwon was so worried now that the sweet dreams fiasco had ruined everything. He hadn't meant it. Junhoe didn't look weirded out back when they were doing it. Heck, he had started it. It was impulse. Stupid impulse.

"Wanna sleep over tonight?" Jiwon asked Donghyuk miserably and the younger smiled sympathetically, nodding and they both set off to the car park. They sat in the car for a while once they reached Jiwon's house and Jiwon rested his head on Donghyuk's shoulder while Donghyuk patted his back. "Dong, am I weird?"

"Yes, hyung."

"Am I too weird for love?"

"Not at all."

"How do I make him like me?"

"You're already doing perfect. I can see it in his eyes."

"That's neither very believable nor comforting," Jiwon grumbled, smushing his cheek against Donghyuk's shoulder and the younger laughed gently. "I love you, kiddo."

"Ditto. Now, let's debunk this sex mess, okay?"

"Okay." 

Jiwon's method this time was instagram, the platform most of the school was on. He just snapped a (fabulous) selfie and got ready to make the caption to beat all captions. 

**bobbyindaeyo** _guess what, today there's gonna be a change and I'm actually gonna type coherently because I'm fucking mad. that's right. I'm using apostrophes. this is serious. I'm only this serious for bets. b e scared._

_heard that some of you fuckers spread a few lickle rumours today ^^ let me warn you now, junhoe does jiujitsu, i do boxing, and we will fuck you up! anyway after that nice message, let me assure you that the rumours are in no way true. the furthest me and junhoe got was hand-holding which is more than any of you miserable fucks will ever get with him. don't make twisted bets about him and your sick fantasies, you psychos, that's not why my brother started this week and it never will be. anyway, love you guys, here's me looking hot and I'll see you tomorrow xoxo_

**taedebo** _BOBBY ILYSM I NEVER BELIEVED THEM PLS DATE ME AGAIN OR DATE JUNHOE BOTH OPTIONS ARE GOOD 😭😭😭❤️_

**yoyofroyo** _omg jiwon your chivalry, you're so lovelyyy, and you guys held hands??!! cuuuuttteee!!_

**juneeeeeeya** _oh my gosh hyung. you are. kind of amazing._

**juneeeeeeya** _you didn't need to mention the handholding though._

**bobbyindaeyo** _sweet dreams...oR A BEAUITUFL NIGHH MAYRE_

**juneeeeeeya** _STFU_


	4. friday

All these DMs he was getting made him want to scream.

_\- We're so sorry, Jiwon._

_\- We didn't know word would spread like that._

_\- don't get mad dude it was jus banter!_

_\- ur so hot bobby omg thank god ur not taken i was scared for a min 😍_

_\- I know who put the bet in, I'll get him to pull out immediately._

_so u knew n didn't think it was a bad idea til i got mad? fuck off -_

_hyung you ok?_

Okay, maybe that last one made him want to scream for a different reason to the others.

_yeah junhoe im perfect  
u?_

_I guess I'm good  
I just wanna make sure you're not too angry or anything_

_im ok now but tbh i shuld be rlly rlly like RLLY angry_  
no one can treat u liek that  
u kno that?

 _yeah hyung_  
I know  
thanks

_for wat_

_dunno_  
see you tomorrow  
I mean, if I see you

_yh!! gn!!!_

_night 💕_

Jiwon stared at the screen for a good minute, eyes wide before he whispered to himself, "I got hearts. I got  _hearts._ "

Jiwon squealed, kicking his feet about as he rolled over onto his stomach and flopped his face into his pillow, trying to calm down by gently suffocating himself. Junhoe didn't hate him. Maybe they had left things on a weird note before but they were good now, they were good and happy and everything was sorted and Jiwon was more in love than ever and his heart couldn't stop sending all these love signals to his brain, making him smile so uncontrollably and thrash about a bit more. But he immediately stilled, staring up at the ceiling.

"I'm eighteen. I'm a _man_. A big strong man who doesn't squeal or blush or scream like..."

But Jiwon was gone in seconds, grinning wildly as he bunched up his duvet and hugged it tightly, closing his eyes. He wondered just what he was going to do if he did see Junhoe. Well, it wasn't like there was any use planning it out, he'd just be spontaneous as ever. Maybe they'd fall into the lake this time. Who knew?

Jiwon reached out onto his bedside table and took hold of his Winnie plushie, tapping his nose. "I deserve love, right?"

Winnie didn't nod but his sweet eyes gave Jiwon all the yeses in the world, making him sigh as he hugged Winnie tight to his chest. "I hope you're right."

-

"Junhoe?"

Nope, that wasn't Jiwon's voice. Just someone else, Yunhyeong's or whatever, Jiwon didn't care who it was, he was just staring at Junhoe dreamily from his lunch table. "Look how he turns...how his hair flips a bit..."

"Please don't tell me that this whole week has been a dream and we're somehow back to square one," Donghyuk said with a raised eyebrow, poking Jiwon's cheek and the guy didn't even flinch. He just kept stupidly smiling. "You're so gross."

"I can't just change in three days...Dong, look at how he  _walks_..."

"We all get it, he's an angel-"

"No!" Jiwon yelled so loudly that Donghyuk jumped, blinking when Jiwon narrowed his eyes at him. "He's a  _prince._ "

"Hyung, I'll punch you."

"I'm a lover, not a fighter," Jiwon sighed happily as Junhoe and Yunhyeong walked past their table, and Jiwon's head spun with them. Donghyuk wasn't sure how to bring up Jiwon's ten year past with boxing, but turned out he didn't need to when Junhoe suddenly turned his head to smile at Jiwon who froze, accidentally punching Donghyuk in the process.

"OW-"

"Fuck, hide me," Jiwon squeaked, dashing under the table to emerge the other side and run off like a bolt. Donghyuk sighed to himself as he saw the confused, slightly hurt look on Junhoe's face, until Yunhyeong the angel was there to save things.

"Ha, that guy has pride in buckets. Guess he got embarrassed about you catching him staring," Yunhyeong chirped with a wink, and Junhoe was turning shy now from how he rubbed his arm. 

"I guess."

"Hey, Donghyuk!"

Donghyuk waved, smiling gratefully because as always, his idiot best friend had needed to be saved by someone else.

"You really are sweet on him, aren't you?" Yunhyeong asked amusedly, poking Junhoe in the side and the younger winced, shaking his head. It only took one look from Yunhyeong for him to break down a bit more.

"I'm not sweet on him, but he's the one who's...sweet."

"Boyfriends."

"Shut your mouth. You've been wanting us together for decades, it's only logical if some of your craziness brushes off on me a little."

"You write poems about him!"

"I wrote  _one_  poem about him."

"Well, he's crazy for you."

"I know. And that's a weird thing to know. I've never approached him 'cause I don't know how to deal with it, and now this stupid bet is just..."

"Making you get sweet on him."

"You need to stop saying those words."

"I bet you're gonna lose on purpose so you get a kiiiiiss-"

"Oh hell no, I'm still super scared of heights," Junhoe shot down in an instant, shaking his head wildly and Yunhyeong deflated.

"Right, forgot about that."

"I'm just gonna let this week go by. This is the last school day after all and I bet he won't do anything during the weekend so I can just forget about him."

Yunhyeong stared at him. "Junhoe, just last night you were calling me just to tell me that he noticed your dm."

"He gets a lot of dms. I didn't think he would."

"But he's in love with you."

"He's not in fucking love with me!"

"He at least likes you and he's doing a mighty good job of getting you to like him too."

Junhoe grimaced, pausing in the middle of the corridor just to groan loudly. Yunhyeong sighed, patting Junhoe's back reassuringly before yelping when Junhoe turned to swipe at him.

"Just like Hulk," Yunhyeong gasped, but he was subdued to an 'ouch' when Junhoe flicked his forehead. "Junhoe-"

"I don't like him."

"Junhoe-"

"I don't like him."

"Junhoe!"

"I DON'T-"

"We're at your classroom, you doofus!"

Junhoe blinked, halting when he hadn't even realised he had started walking again just to see his classmates in a room that was indeed his class. Junhoe looked at Yunhyeong who was raising an eyebrow at him, then back to the room, then to Yunhyeong. "I still don't like him."

"I don't care what you say, at the very least, you are  _sweet on him,_ " Yunhyeong said firmly, giving Junhoe another Medusa look before walking off to his own classroom, and it was a while until Junhoe unfroze. He slowly walked into the room, nodding at Hanbin who didn't look at him, and he took a seat at his desk just for the teacher to come in a moment later.

"Kim Areum."

"Here!"

"Kim Hanbin."

"Present."

"Kim Linsong."

"Here."

"Kim Jisoo."

"Here."

Junhoe was pretty sure the majority of the people in his class were Kims, and he always found himself wanting to fall asleep just before his name was called out.

"Koo Junhoe."

"Here..."

A few names later, and Junhoe was alerted a little by a soft-knocking at the door, which he could only hear since his desk was near the intruding door. The amount of times people would walk past his desk. The amount of times people would be sitting there if Junhoe wasn't for the most random reasons. The utter annoyance of having a door seat.

Junhoe lazily looked to the side, only to sit up almost immediately when he saw Jiwon looking at him imploringly, smiling sheepishly as he gave a weak wave. Junhoe blinked, turning to stare down the teacher who was just saying the last few names and the second the final 'here' was said, he stood up, swung his bag over his shoulder and left the room.

"Jiwon?"

"Just wanted to, uh, check up," Jiwon said, laughing a little nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. Junhoe just looked at him, still wondering why on earth he was here.

"Have you been to roll call?"

"I'm always late and so's my teacher, it doesn't matter. But...everything's okay, right? About the...you know?"

Junhoe blinked, still unsure and Jiwon coughed. "Uh, the incident?"

"Huh?"

"People thinking we had the-" Jiwon wolf-whistled instead of saying the word, shooting Junhoe finger-guns and Junhoe was even more confused. Jiwon sighed in defeat, slumping a little as he muttered under his breath, "People thinking we had sex."

Junhoe couldn't believe he had been that stupid not to realise, so had no clue why he was smiling now. "You're so utterly weird."

"Yeah, well, I know," Jiwon sighed, clasping his hands behind his back. "But I wanted to check up on you. You good? No cat-calls, right? No...other bad things?"

"I mean, I think Kim Jiwon whistled at me a moment ago but, other than a few stares, nah."

Jiwon sighed in relief, nodding before straightening up and sending Junhoe a smile. It might have had Junhoe blushing, but only because he was caught by surprise, only because Jiwon was objectively quite a looker.

 _And a keeper_ , Yunhyeong giggled in his mind and Junhoe frantically waved him  
away.

"I'm glad. I was just thinking that maybe I made it too big of a deal and doing that on insta was too-"

"I said thank you, didn't I? I appreciated it. Still do. Really."

"That's what you were saying thank you for?"

"Yeah."   
  
"Ah," Jiwon said brightly, beaming though clearly not trying to smile too big (and clearly failing). "I see."

"You see."

"Uh-huh."

"I know there's only the afternoon left but, uh...will I see you at the football match?"

"You're going?"

"For Donghyuk."

"Yeah, I'm for Hanbin."

"Cool!"

"I'll be waiting here until it starts."

"Me too!"

Junhoe looked at Jiwon then, trying to tell him something telepathically, or at least with his eyes, but Jiwon looked happy-go-lucky as ever and so Junhoe was sure he didn't get the message. Junhoe sighed inwardly and clutched his bag tighter, nodding at Jiwon. "I'll see you."

Jiwon only grinned back, so Junhoe walked off past him towards his next lesson which he couldn't remember yet but he'd get there. That was until he heard a smooth, "Maybe before the match."

Junhoe smiled to himself but didn't stop walking, and he thought about what Yunhyeong said. Junhoe had always been sweet on Jiwon, even before these three days, it was just getting harder and harder to hide it. He might even be beginning to like the guy, but not in  _that_  way. In the normal way. He at least could tell that Jiwon would be a pretty great friend.

###

"I think I might take Junhoe out on a date today."

Donghyuk spat out his water.

"How the hell did we go from running away from under a table to _that_?" Donghyuk asked in utter disbelief, wiping his mouth and Jiwon shrugged, resting his cheek on the flat side of his fist.

"It's not like I'll tell him it's a date. I'm just gonna be such a confident gay and I'm gonna find him after school and take him by the hand and we'll run off into the sunset. To the park."

"The park?"

"One of my favourite places."

"I know but it's not quite...romantic."

Jiwon smiled at Donghyuk, neatly dropping sodium hydroxide into the test tube. "Anything works in the name of love, my brother."

"Then how about you use that for this stupid experiment you've messed up _three times_ ," Donghyuk growled, grabbing the test-tube from a surprised Jiwon so he could run to empty out the contents in a sink. Jiwon tried to put on a nonchalant smile when the teacher walked past.

"I could pick some flowers from somewhere."

"Kim freaking Jiwon!" Donghyuk screeched, whipping his head up from his art when he saw Jiwon standing there, drumming his fingers against the work bench. "You're not even in this class!"

"I know I know it's my free but shut up, would that be too cheesy? I just don't know how else I can spruce it up."

"Why don't you just not spruce it up and keep it breezy?" Donghyuk huffed, scraping the palette knife across the metal board to mix the paints. Jiwon stared at the board, at the cobalt and lilac colliding and he wondered once more about how he could kill two birds with one stone.

"I'm gonna take him up to the slide."

"No way, his fear of-"

"I wanna help him. He might trust me."

Donghyuk dropped the knife and turned to fully face Jiwon, a hand on his hip. "Well well well, Aladdin, if you're that confident then go for it. Let your little bet come to an end, bag your kiss."

"Why do you sound like that?" Jiwon asked nervously, and Donghyuk only shrugged.

"Well, he might see through you right away, or he'll trust you just to think 'but it's all 'cause of the bet'."

"But he won't," Jiwon said immediately, making Donghyuk raise an eyebrow.

"Why's that?"

"Because this is about love. I won't even mention the bet because the instant I know he trusts me, that's better than any single bet I've ever and ever will do. It was always going to be up to him whether he wants to kiss me or not and we could even be in a proper relationship first. He'll love me after all this time."

"You whimsical, lovesick kid," Donghyuk sighed. "You're storytelling. You don't think that's gonna happen at all."

Jiwon smiled sadly. "Anything works in the name of love, right?"

Donghyuk looked around to see if the teacher was anywhere before holding his arms out. Jiwon fell into him, clutching him tightly and the younger rubbed his back.

He knew what Donghyuk was trying to do. Donghyuk was his voice of reason, the person who cut through his dreams to tell him to remember that he lived on Earth where things were always at least a bit complicated, yet still spurred him on where deemed fit. He was a star. He couldn't even be mad about Donghyuk and Hanbin making out next to him right now because he was really glad that this dude who had dealt with someone like Jiwon for so long had finally found someone worthy of him. Yeah, Jiwon would _reluctantly_ say that Hanbin was worthy. He really was, though.

"You're so pretty," Hanbin hummed in a soft tone, stroking Donghyuk's cheek gently and the younger's smile grew massive.

"You're prettier."

"Shut up."

"Make me-"

"You've had this exact same type of conversation ten times!" Jiwon yelled, ready to tear his hair out and Hanbin reached out to tentatively pat his back.

"I think your anger is misplaced, hyung."

"He's not lying, though, we need new material," Donghyuk giggled, before gasping when Hanbin pulled him close, slamming their lips together in a way that had Donghyuk trembling, melting into the elder. What a weakling. Oh how Jiwon _wished_ he could be that kind of weakling for Junhoe.

He wasn't quite sure what he was doing. It was already after school hours, Hanbin had already told Jiwon where Junhoe was, and there was a good two hours until the game. So Jiwon didn't know why he was here with a couple who he could either call the best friend and his boyfriend or the student president and his vice (you decide which is weirder), trying and failing miserably to do some schoolwork. He was just doodling Junhoe's name down his margins now. It looked so pretty in cursive fonts...

He rested the side of his face against the table and looked across at his phone. It was just lying there. Doing nothing wrong. But Jiwon still pounced at it the instant it made noise.

Junhoe had posted an Instagram photo.

_Fuck._

Jiwon side-eyed Donghyuk and Hanbin who were just being cute again, with Hanbin repeatedly pressing kisses to a dazed-looking Donghyuk's lips, and so Jiwon was in the being-made-fun-of clear. He tapped the notification, and his eyes grew soft the instant he saw it.

_God, you put too much cuteness into his bowl._

The caption said:  _come oooooooon, where's my Prince Charming_  and Jiwon dreamily thought,  _my one is right there..._

"Hyung, we're gonna go practise at the field now," Donghyuk said as him and Hanbin got up and Jiwon waved them away, nodding.

"Mhm, have fun, kids, I'll be there soon."

"He has the Junhoe look on him, I wonder what the guy's done now," Donghyuk whispered to Hanbin as they walked out of the room, shaking his head and Hanbin grinned at him.

Jiwon kept looking at the Instagram post. His pupils were probably the shape of hearts by now, and it just made all of his cells sigh. Junhoe was in this school somewhere, looking like that, calling out for a Prince Charming and Jiwon hoped one wouldn't come. It was selfish but it was either him or no-one. So Jiwon finally made up his mind and in the stupidest bout of recklessness ever, he made a post.

_im prince charming bby 😘_

-

And then he fucking ran for it. Out the library, skidding across the hallways, ignoring an annoying teacher yelling at him to stop because fuck him it was out of school hours anyway, soaring out of the school doors before catching his breath once he caught sight of Junhoe's back resting against a bench up front. Jiwon weakly fist-pumped, almost collapsing from his lungs failing on him but he scraggled forward, slowly composing himself the closer he got to Junhoe and he was back to normal once he was able to swoop into the bench and shoot Junhoe with the second set of finger guns that day. Jiwon was really going all out.

"Your insta post was the cheesiest thing I've ever seen," Junhoe deadpanned without even looking at him and Jiwon gasped in offence.

"I WAS BEING CHIVALROUS-"

"Absolute cringe."

"You were the one who asked for a-"

"Prince Charming, not a you."

"I can be a Prince Charming! I can be prince-like, I can be all...that."

"I think first," Junhoe said, before gracefully turning around to lower himself to the ground, on one knee in front of Jiwon who blinked a million times, staring down at Junhoe in awe as the younger still didn't look at him. But his soft dark hair, his gorgeous face, even his shoulders... "You'll need to at least get on my level."

It took an embarrassingly long while for Jiwon to realise that Junhoe was just tying up his laces for him. Yet it was still the most romantic hing in the world, and yes Jiwon was falling into dreamland again where Junhoe and him were going to get married on a yacht and have two beautiful kids or at least a hamster and then everything would—

"Hope you didn't run anytime with those precarious untied laces."

Jiwon blinked, laughing sheepishly. "Nope!"

"Good." Then Junhoe was getting up and about to sit back down, until Jiwon struck an arm out and took hold of his wrist.

"Wait!"

Junhoe looked at him. "I'm not particularly going anywhere, hyung."

"Oh, right...but, I want you to. I mean, holy shit, I want us to, I mean- I wanna take you somewhere."

"Is it those fields?"

"Close! The park attached to it. We'll go, have some fun and come back in time for the match.

"Oh," Junhoe said, blinking, and Jiwon harrowingly awaited his verdict. "Sure."

YES! Mental fist-bump time.

"Then let's go!"

 ** _ji_**   **@bobbyranika**  
 _quick y'all how do you make a park romantic_  
                     

            - _take them there at sunset!  
_ _-you don't  
_ _-high place so you seem more alone?_  
            - good food and aphrodisiacs  
            - just kiss them idk

"Here we are!" Jiwon cheered, twirling around messily with his arms in the air obviously just to stumble, but then Junhoe caught him. Jiwon gulped, trying his best not to blush as he sprung away. "Let's go!"

He didn't see Junhoe's slightly sad look when Jiwon started to bound off.

"The sun's already setting. Winter, right?" Jiwon sighed, shaking his head and Junhoe shrugged as they both stood there looking up.

"It's gonna start looking real pretty soon."

"Let's get a closer look," Jiwon chirped, tugging on Junhoe who blinked.

"What do you mean?"

"Just come."

Then Jiwon rushed off, and Junhoe had to snap into action to follow. Jiwon was racing to the slide area, with the monkey bars and the mini rock-climbs and the little space at the top where you could stand or sit and be king of the world. He was jumping on a rock climb in an instant, but then he heard Junhoe call out, "Wait!"

Jiwon turned around, expectant, while Junhoe rubbed his arm and looked at the ground. "We can watch the sunset from the ground, can't we?"

"Trust me, Junhoe," Jiwon said, jumping off just so he could take Junhoe's hand and the boy jolted a little, but didn't pull away. God, Jiwon was so proud of himself. He was amazing. He was so brilliant. And now he was going to help someone who was even better. "It looks so much prettier from up there."

Junhoe swallowed. "Alright." 

_Woah. He's actually trusting me..._

Then Jiwon was leading them up, more careful than he usually ever would by himself, and he was getting all lovesick at how tight Junhoe was holding onto him. And finally, they got to the place of the king(s) of the world and Jiwon sank down at the opening, swinging his legs over the edge as he patted the space next to him.

"Wanna sit?"

Junhoe didn't answer with words. He just stiffly sat down and Jiwon beamed at him, about to speak until Junhoe was slipping an arm around Jiwon's waist and tugging him closer, hiding his face in Jiwon's neck. And Jiwon's heart was exploding.

"Sorry," Junhoe mumbled, holding onto Jiwon tight and the elder tried not to melt into dizzy love hearts. He just reached out for Junhoe's hand again, patting it gently.

"You don't want to look at the sunset?"

"I'm good like this."

"Okay."

So Jiwon looked instead, with a beauty in the sky and a beauty by his side. The soft pastel colours were all merging, and Junhoe smelt like vanilla ice cream. The sky looked like the heavens opening up, and Junhoe was the warmest thing in the world. Jiwon wanted all his body heat.

_**This** is what being in love is like._

"It looks really pretty, Junhoe."

"Don't care."

Jiwon laughed brightly, happy when he felt Junhoe smile against his neck. Then he was thinking holy shit, _Koo Junhoe's lips are on my **skin** —_

Too much too fast. Jiwon might be short-circuiting. This might actually be his death. And while he was thinking all that, Junhoe seemed to have dropped something down the side.

"Hey," Junhoe said, pulling away from Jiwon to try and catch it, and maybe he forgot that this was open air, and he wasn't harnessed, because the next thing anyone knew, he was over-rotating. He was falling. And Jiwon felt him leave before he heard the scream.

 _The fuck, the fuck, the FUCK,_ Jiwon's mind screeched at him as he quickly hopped up and jumped off the side of the slide set, bruising his shin in the process but he didn't notice as he raced over and managed to get there in time to break Junhoe's fall.

Phew.

They were both silent for a moment. Jiwon was seriously trying to ignore the digging in his back or- scratch that, everything hurt, but he seriously hoped that wasn't the case for Junhoe. It didn't seem to be. The guy just looked shocked, heavy breaths leaving his mouth, until he was getting off Jiwon so quick which was the most relieving thing - he couldn't be hurt that badly.

"I hate you."

Wait a second.

"Huh?" Jiwon asked in shock, looking up at Junhoe who had his fists clenched and teeth gritted. He looked like he wanted to beat Jiwon up. In fact, Jiwon already felt beat up by the look alone.

"You succeeded in your fucking bet just for me to fall. I can't believe it. Yeah, I trusted you and I have no idea why."

"Woah, Junhoe, wait a sec," Jiwon said fearfully, scrambling to get up while trying not to wince. Maybe Junhoe actually would punch him. Maybe Jiwon deserved it, but he hadn't even been thinking about the bet. Not even once.

"So you did it. Are you happy now?" Junhoe seethed, eyes narrowed and face an angry red as he stared at Jiwon who suddenly felt less scared now. Junhoe's words were lighting up a fire in him. "You finally got what you wanted. Thanks for stringing me along for three days, now I'm gonna leave because there is no way in hell that I'll ever kiss you-"

"Do you think this is all a joke to me?!" Jiwon yelled, shoving Junhoe in the chest and the younger instantly fell silent as he stumbled a little, face red and expression confused. Jiwon shook his head, looking down at his hands which he couldn't stop unclenching and clenching into fists.

"You...you don't understand _anything_ , Junhoe. This isn't just a bet, this isn't just me trying to annoy you or force you to do something you don't want. I like you, full-on _like_ you, hell, maybe I could be in love with you. It's been that way for so long and this is the only chance that I could get to do something about it 'cause I'm a fucking self-conscious coward who's so out of your league. I know you don't like me back, you never have and you never will so is it such a crime for me to chase after a long-term crush just a little bit, in a fun, literally harmless way because I know that nothing else could ever happen? I just wanted to be your friend. That's all this was about. I'm sorry that you fell but that's not my fucking fault and fine, don't kiss me. Don't do anything. Just don't ever talk to me again, because I'm done pining over someone who won't even end up caring about me."

And so, Jiwon was the first one to walk away. Or more like run. He tore past Junhoe, bashing shoulders as he walked by and wouldn't stop, not focusing on any of his stupid thoughts because his heartbeat was ringing so loudly in his ears and it was blocking out everything, even the stupid pain that was everywhere. 

He quickly took out his phone to text Donghyuk. 

_hey i'm really sorry but i cant make the match today. jsut not feeling too good. -_   
_good luck tho! im sure youll be amazin -_

Then he called his mother.

"Ma, I'm going to the hospital. Had a nasty fall, that's all. Don't worry too much."

The instant he hung up, he burst into tears.

———

"Something must have happened between them. Junhoe's not here either. He's not the type to text me either if he's not coming unlike your polite friend there," Hanbin said, running back after a quick scout of the audience and Donghyuk frowned, crossing his arms.

"I'm worried. Hyung's text sounded _nice_ and Hanbin, he's like, _never_ nice like that to me. God, if something happened...you really don't understand how much Jiwon likes him..."

"It might not be the same but I don't think you understand how much Junhoe likes him either," Hanbin said out of nowhere, and Donghyuk stared at him. "Anyway. We've got a match to play. We'll check up on them later, okay?"

Donghyuk nodded uncertainly, and Hanbin kissed his cheek.

"Hey. It'll be ok."

"If you say so."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long ;_;


	5. saturday

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?!"

"Hey, Dongie," Jiwon said brightly, trying to hide his sheepishness with boisterous...ness. "Haven't seen you in a while. It's so early, is it an emergency?"

"Well, how about you not wanting to answer my phone all day yesterday?!" Donghyuk yelled, and he was so fierce even through a screen. He never failed to amaze.

"Ah yes well, you see, I was in hospital."

"Oh my God."

"I wasn't there for that long, but I've been put on bed rest for most of the weekend. I can still move and stuff, 'n Doc said go out at least once a day but rest up for the most part."

"What's actually happened to you?"

"Got a few fractured bones, it's not too bad. And my torso just really hurts. Can't stop this headache either. Ooh, wanna see my cast? I've got a crutch too!"

"Hyung, did...Junhoe beat you up or something?" Donghyuk asked warily and Jiwon beamed.

"Almost!"

"What?"

"Basically, he fell off the slide set at the park and I broke his fall."

Donghyuk was so still that Jiwon almost thought the screen was buffering, until the guy blinked. "So you were trying to help him but now he's probably even more scared of heights."

Jiwon glared at him. "Can you stop saying the hard truth for one second?"

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine."

"Wait wait, so you actually got him up the slide set? So you actually won the bet?"

"No," Jiwon said flatly. "There was no winning here."

"Huh?"

"I didn't win. I can't have won if I feel so terrible."

"Damn it, Jiwon, can I just come over?"

"You wanna sign my cast too?!" Jiwon said excitedly, and Donghyuk looked so done. "Nah, it's okay, dude. Don't worry about me, I feel great!"

"No, you sound like you're in severe denial."

"I just said I felt terrible, that doesn't sound like I'm in denial."

"And then you paint an uncomfortably big smile on a second later, and you literally said a moment ago that you feel great. Does that sound like terrible?"

"Ugh, just stop talking with all your- you know, words!" Jiwon groaned, shaking his head. "Can you just tell me how the match went last night?"

"Oh yeah, we won," Donghyuk said dryly and Jiwon raised his arms and tried not to wince.

"Hey, that's great! Right?"

"Yet I was worrying about you the whole time so it's not really a good memory."

"You didn't need to, I'm feeling great!"

"Oh my God. Bye, hyung."

"Bye!"

"Wow."

The instant Donghyuk hung up, the smile fell and Jiwon pushed the laptop lid down with a sigh. He hadn't checked his phone for hours now. All last night, he had been pathetic and hoped that Junhoe would message him but of course that didn't happen. Junhoe hated him. And Jiwon was supposed to hate him too actually. 

_Do I hate him? I've liked him for so long. Hating him is so weird. It doesn't feel like me hating Kei Lin when he stole my girlfriend. Ugh, I just don't hate him, so I?_

Jiwon sighed again like the sad little man he was, slinking down his bed to rest his head on his pillow and scroll mindlessly through his phone. Only to regret it immediately, when he saw one of Hanbin's posts showing a candid of Junhoe on his phone.

_'this pokemon says hi!'_

So Junhoe was out having fun?

He was about to press Junhoe's tag so he could scroll through his instagram feed and cry, but he realised that he didn't want to be that person. There was no point in being that person because crushes come and go. As do friendships. As do most things. Like pain. Except Jiwon really liked this cast because a hot doctor signed it so he hoped he could keep it.

-

"Do I look good?" Jiwon asked his mother  a little flatly and the woman smiled at him, fixing his collar.

"You can barely see the cast."

"Oh right actually, I want people to see that so they can feel sorry for me, I might get free dessert," Jiwon conceded, pulling up his sleeve and his mother snorted, patting his shoulder.

"Have fun, son."

"Yeah, I'll try."

"Why are you actually going through with this? And why do you care about looking good?" his father asked from the living room and Jiwon sighed, picking up an orange to throw and catch like he was way more chill about life than he felt.

"Well, I'm a man of my word, I lost the bet after all. And the wager was to act like this is a  _proper_  date so I'd wanna look nice if I was meeting someone!"

Everyone was silent for a moment before his dad just shrugged and turned back to the television, and Jiwon rolled his eyes. His mother just patted his back and handed him his crutch. 

"Be careful, son. Come home soon."

- 

**_ji_  **   
**@bobbyranika**

_date niiiiiiiiight, here's to losing bets!_

_-_

"Table for two, sir?"

"Yep," Jiwon said, trying not to sound weak. And thus, it started. His table was nice and spacious and, more importantly, very visible to other customers. He tugged at his collar a little, and slowly took a seat, resting the crutch against a table leg. It wasn't long before a waitress swept in to take his order, before pausing.

"Oh, sir, would you like to order now or should I wait?"

"We'll wait a while," Jiwon said with a bright grin despite his chest squeezing inside. The waitress nodded before walking away, and Jiwon sighed.

_So I'm here. What now?_

**_Sit there like you got stood up._ **

_Fuck off, Junhoe._

**_You don't usually tell me to do that._ **

_Because usually when I hear your voice in my head, you're saying sweet things._

**_To you?_ **

_Yes..._

**_Why?_ **

_Because I want you to love me._

**_Why?_ **

_Because you're the most amazing person in this stupid world and I fucking hate you._

The voice fell silent. Jiwon slumped back in his chair, biting his lip as a horrible feeling pricked at his eyes.

"Just half an hour. Pretend you had an emergency and leave. That happens on real dates, the bad ones, and this is definitely a bad one."

He hoped the workers weren't watching him lose his mind, until he realised that he didn't have much left to lose. Let them see everything. He didn't care anymore.

"JIWON!"

Well that was a...slightly familiar voice? But was it even calling him? Who knew how many people's names were Jiwon in this damn-

"JIWOOOOON!"

Okay, getting more familiar. And now Jiwon couldn't even think before a body was sliding into his booth and slamming into him, hugging him tight. Jiwon was about to yelp ' _don't_  touch the injured man!' before he blinked, because  _this_  was something he could recognise. "Tae?"

"Yay, you remember me!" the voice cheered, and Jiwon leant back only to stare. Short hair. Sharper jawline. Lower voice. What the fuck.

"Tae."

"Yeah?!"

"Why are you a dude?"

"Why are  _you_  a dude?" Tae asked defensively, crossing his arms. Jiwon was so confused that he wanted to just pass out, but then Tae was bursting into laughter. "Ugh, your face. People transition, Mr Oldie."

"Just a week ago you were yelling 'do I look like a guy?!' because of my bet, why were you-"

"Oh yeah, that's just cause I'm incognito or whatever," Tae shrugged, looking at his nails. Then he winked at Jiwon. "But do I look more attractive or what?"

Compared to the pigtails and lipgloss (no wait the lipgloss was still there), Jiwon had to admit: maybe? But Tae had always been beautiful.

"Fuck, dude, I had no idea about this. Is this why you've been off school?"

"No, that's because I'm so so  _so_  upset about you pining over Junhoe," Tae sighed dramatically, dropping his whole upper half onto the table. "You're my favourite ex, you know."

"Taedea-"

"That's not my name anymore. Have you ordered anything? I fancy a smoothie," Tae said excitedly, leaving Jiwon's side only to crash into the seat opposite, and Jiwon really worried for this guy's body. "You and Junhoe dating yet?"

"No-"

"BOO!" Tae yelled, throwing the menu at Jiwon's head.

" _Hey_ -"

"How  _dare_  you defy me like this? I gave you my blessing!"

"So I need your blessing?"

"Getting a blessing from an ex is ultimate gold," Tae said determinedly, pointing at Jiwon with a fork before beaming at the waiter who popped up. "Hello, darling."

The waiter looked stunned, and Jiwon shook his head. Tae still hadn't lost his game. Him and Jiwon had only really dated back in the day because Jiwon's type was 'drastically gorgeous and way out of his league' (as you can see with Junhoe). The relationship was fine but he'd rather have Tae scream at video games and trains and TV and just anything really (the dude yells a lot) with him rather than kiss him.

"Uh, would you like to order?"

"A berry smoothie and fries! And whatever he wants," Tae said brightly, and Jiwon raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm not paying for you."

"Aw...but I'm paying so much money for binders and testosterone and..."

"A-Ah. Then sure, I'll pay."

"HA, that works?! I'm so using it more, I'm not even paying for stuff, my parents are!" Tae said gleefully, throwing his arms out but Jiwon did not let him have a hug. He just thwacked Tae and said his order while the boy was cowering in pain. Then the instant the waiter left, Tae's face fell and it was back to business. "You need to ask him out and fast."

"We just had a fight," Jiwon said blankly, before yowling when Tae thumped his shoulder. "Why do we hit each other so much?!"

"Fights don't  _matter._  I just fought with my cat, and yes, I left him home alone out of anger but uh,  _will_  I cuddle with him tonight? Yes!"

"You fought with your cat?"

"He doesn't have taste, Ji. It's awful."

"What-"

"Okay, just tell me how bad the fight was."

"It was like, 'having them say they hate you then confessing by yelling in their face and saying you don't want them to ever go near you' bad."

Tae dropped the fork. "Okay. Maybe...it matters a little."

"I'm annoyed at  _him_ , okay, I didn't mess up!" Jiwon said sharply, trying to convince himself more than anything. "It's not my fault he fell off that stupid swing set."

"Swing se- woah. Your bet."

"Shut up."

"But-"

"Shut  _up_."

"So you did it?"

"No. Well, yes, but it's not a win. It can't be."

Tae nodded, solemn as he looked down at the table. They were both quiet for maybe a minute before Jiwon finally couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm pretty sure I fell in love with him, Tae."

"Hey, I know," Tae reassured, reaching out for Jiwon's hands. Jiwon held onto them tight. "That happens sometimes. Maybe he just doesn't deserve it, you know jerks are many."

Jiwon shook his head, and his tears almost fell with the single movement. "He's so wonderful. He's like salted caramel, he's- he yelled at me because he was scared and I broke his trust and  _I'm the bad guy_. I'm...I'm the bad guy..."

Next thing he knew, Tae was back beside him, rubbing his back gently while Jiwon finally decided to just let his eyes cry him dry. This was what he deserved. He'd asked Junhoe to trust him. He pretty much promised him nothing would happen  _only_  for it to happen. At least it wasn't the worst (read: Junhoe being the one who got hurt) but it still must've been scary. So scary.

"Do you want me to talk to him? You know, ex to prospective lover, then I can put in a good word-"

"Nah, he'll just think you're still into me."

"Well, that's because I  _am_ , I absolutely am! You're my  _soul_ mate!" Tae clarified, moving back to the other seat and clasping his hands together. Jiwon rolled his eyes (while also wondering why the guy didn't know how to stay still). "But I'm not yours and I'm more than okay with it."

"I bet you cry over me in your sleep."

"Every day since."

"Wow."

Tae then hit Jiwon's back so hard that he almost choked. "I'm joking,  _dummy_ , you better go back to Junhoe or I'll murder. Only because even a fool can see how much you like him."

"He doesn't like me."

"I actually don't believe that's possible."

"Not everyone likes me."

"Oh my God, now you're a liar?! You've  _changed-_ "

"Jiwon-hyung? Is that you?"

Tae and Jiwon both turned to the side to see Hanbin standing right there in front of their table, his eyes wide. Jiwon blinked a few times, no clue what to say back until he saw Hanbin's eyes rake over him, over the cast, and the crutch. It suddenly clicked when Hanbin's fists clenched, and Jiwon (stupidly) quickly stood up, calling out a, "WAIT!"

But Hanbin was already speed-walking off, and Jiwon was crying out in pain making Tae rush to his side. "Jiwon!"

"Fuck," Jiwon breathed out, wincing. "T-Tae, Junhoe doesn't know I'm hurt, now Hanbin's gonna tell him-"

"And I don't care. You're gonna get yourself home right now and go to bed," Tae said sternly, and Jiwon paused. "I'll walk you. Come on."

"But-"

"What was on that damn floor when you fell? Aren't parks supposed to have soft ground?"

"Junhoe's bigger than me...he's so muscular-"

"Okay no, we're not drooling over your attacker."

-

_so i went to go check on him -_

_\- how is he!!!_

_dong why did you not tell me how hurt he was -_

_- aw no i forgot_

_he seems ok tho. hes with another guy who_ _really looks like aede? -_

_\- aede? she doesn't have a brother though_

_idk anyway im going to junhoe's -_

_\- oh! wait weren't you just there yesterday?_

_that was to cheer him up -_

_now it's to beat him up -_

_\- hanbin WHAT_

-

"JUNHOE!"

Junhoe slumped against his desk. "What now?"

He winced when he heard a noise that sounded like his door being literally kicked down, and then Hanbin was charging in. Junhoe tried to smile at him, but Hanbin's glare was disconcerting.  

"What's wrong?"

"I'll tell you what's wrong," Hanbin snarled, grabbing the piece of paper Junhoe was holding before scrunching it up into a ball. Junhoe called out a, "Hey!", trying to reach for it but Hanbin threw it to the side. "Do you know how much you hurt Jiwon-hyung?" 

"I know-"

"No, I mean  _physically_. He has casts and crutches, Junhoe!"

Junhoe was frozen for a good few minutes before he asked, "Are you sure those are both plural or-"

Hanbin thwacked him around the head with a pillow. "YOU NEED TO GO OVER THERE AND APOLOGISE!"

"I'm not gonna do anything! We're over!" Junhoe yelled, before screeching when Hanbin was about to hit him again.

"You people weren't even  _dating_. You can't be over if you haven't even started-"

"Oh trust me, you weren't there."

Hanbin frowned, and he decided to turn around to pick up Junhoe's paper ball only to see Yunhyeong at the door, holding a glass of water. They both blinked at each other. "Uhhh..."

"Yunhyeong-hyung's here too," Junhoe said tiredly before flopping back against his desk. Yunhyeong awkwardly sipped his water. Hanbin swiped up the paper before raising a hand.

"Hi."

"Hey. So what's going on?" Yunhyeong asked, taking a seat on the bed and the owner of it said a muffled, "I got Jiwon-hyung hurt."

"Huh? How hurt?"

"There are casts and crutches!"

"Okay I really don't think I'm heavy enough for there to be more than one of each of those -"

"Can you feel a bit more sorry rather than wondering how fat you are?!" Hanbin yelled, going over to pull Junhoe's face up, only to freeze at the tears in the boy's eyes. "Junhoe..."

"How bad did I hurt him?" Junhoe asked shakily, his voice quiet, and Hanbin suddenly didn't want to answer anymore. Yunhyeong set his glass down and reached out for Junhoe's hand.

"Honey, weren't you telling me a moment ago that you hate him?'

"Of course I don't hate him. It was my stupid fault that I fell and even if it wasn't, he caught me. I'm supposed to be in debt to him now. One of you tell me I'm wrong."

Neither of the other two spoke.

"I didn't even get my stupid key, it could be anywhere by now, I gotta rely on my parents being home," Junhoe sighed, before seeing the confused looks from the other two. "Oh, I dropped it down the side of the swing set. I was reaching out for it and that was why I fell."

"So yes, your fault!"

"Excuse me! He could've like...held me or something. Or not let me get that far towards the edge!" Junhoe yelped, before crumbling at the look that Yunhyeong and Hanbin shared. "Both of you shut up, I know. You still don't know how scary it was."

"I spent the whole of yesterday making you feel better, alright, now's the time to knock some sense into you. So you fell. Your worst fear came true, but who dropped everything to try and catch you?"

"Do you think it's always going to be like that? If we forgive each other, if we become friends again...will he always go the biggest lengths to make sure I'm okay?" Junhoe asked worriedly, and Hanbin shrugged.

"You underestimate how much he likes you, Junhoe."

"It's not that. I  _know_  he likes me but it - it makes me feel like he deserves better. I hate reading stories about one-sided pining because the person who never pined doesn't deserve the ending relationship. Imagine loving someone for that long without them loving you back, and then you settle the instant they  _finally_  notice you? It sucks."

"Why are you trying to sabotage this for yourself, Junhoe?" Yunhyeong asked gently, and Junhoe didn't reply. Then Hanbin just decided to unravel the piece of paper in his hand, for lack of doing anything else.

_To love is to hurt._   
_I discovered this later,_   
_But you found it first._   
_If the pain grows greater,_   
_It's my own fault,_   
_And I finally hurt_   
_Like I deserve most._

_It's all gone now._   
_But if I were to love you_   
_Where a second chance allows,_   
_I'd never hurt you again_   
_Even if I don't yet know how._

"You like him so much, Junhoe," Hanbin muttered, smoothing out the crinkled paper. "And you never like anyone. Don't be an idiot."

Junhoe raised his head to try and get a look at the paper before he quickly shook his head. "Hey, that was  _not_  about my situation. It was inspired but don't look at that and think I like him, it's basically  _fiction_."

"What? Let me read it," Yunhyeong asked, and Hanbin handed it over despite Junhoe's blatant yells of discontent. Yunhyeong barely even took a minute before he was saying, "We need to ship Junhoe off to his house  _stat_."

"I can get his address from Donghyuk!" Hanbin contributed which Yunhyeong vibrantly nodded at, and Junhoe didn't know what was going on.

"We can do it tomorrow? Jiwon probably needs to rest some more."

"So the morning so it's not left too late-"

"Both of you stop!" Junhoe exploded, getting up and Hanbin and Yunhyeong actually fell silent. Junhoe glared between both of them for a moment before speaking again. "This isn't your decision. And I'd actually really like it if you both left right now because I don't need you telling me how to think and what to do."

Junhoe pointed at the door, clenching his other hand into a fist and it seemed like the others could see that Junhoe wasn't messing around. Hanbin muttered a 'sorry' as he left first, and Yunhyeong put the poem back on Junhoe's desk.

"Sorry, Junhoe."

"Doesn't matter, just go."

"I know you'll make the right decision," Yunhyeong said warmly, giving Junhoe a smile before leaving, and Junhoe hated all of it. What was the right decision? Who said he was smart enough to make it? Junhoe was the dumbest person he himself would ever know and he wasn't made for any of this. Friends were stupid. Crushes were stupid. All of it was just unnecessary and shouldn't be worth it.

Junhoe's eyes skirted over to the crumpled piece of paper on his desk.

_But if I were to love you_   
_Where a second chance allows,_   
_I'd never hurt you again_   
_Even if I don't yet know how._

"I wouldn't," Junhoe said, quietly. "Somehow. At best, I'd love him back. If he lets me."

Junhoe groaned, banging his head against his chairback. "How do you even love someone who loves you?! How do you match them?! Am  _I_  supposed to admire him and cause detentions and take him to the park because I can do that, if that's what it means to like someone then-"

Junhoe's phone went off, and that's when he deflated.

"That's not all it means to like someone."

He checked his phone. Surprisingly, it was a text from Donghyuk which was strange. They only had each other's numbers from study chats and didn't text outside of them.

_\- hey Junhoe! me and jiwon hyung went to the park and found your key and he's insisting it's yours. wanna meet up sometime soon so I can give it back? or I can give them on monday? your call_

Junhoe just stared at the text for the moment. They really found his key. Jiwon was...'insisting' that it was his? Probably because of the keychains that were very Junhoesque but it still made his heart do something.

_oh thanks! do you still have them? -_

_\- yeah we're still at the park_

Junhoe weighed out his options. He could turn this in a weird way, where he could end up having four reasons to go to Jiwon's house. The first was to apologise for getting him hurt. Second was spilling all this newfound 'I think I like you kind of a lot and it's been a while but I actually know it now because you hung out with me' stuff. Third was to get his key back. Fourth...the bet. Jiwon had won fair and square. He deserved his prize.

_could you give to them to Jiwon hyung? -_

_\- huh? why?_

_I was wondering if I could get them from him... -_

_\- oh my god seriously??? wooooah do you want his address?_

_really, you'd give it to me? -_

_\- anything to stop him from moping_   
_\- don't tell him I said that_   
_\- and yeah I'll give it to you, just cause I'm desperate and cause I know I can get you suspended if you hurt him. I don't usually play with my authority like that but I genuinely do not care right now_

_oof I know not to mess with you Pres -_   
_thank you. a lot -_

_\- yeah yeah well_   
_\- go get him_   
_\- please_

Junhoe rested his face in his folded arms on his desk for the seventh time that day.

_Am I really going to do this?_

He closed his eyes and the one thing he managed to think about was Jiwon laughing when Junhoe had covered his face in paint. One of the first times that Junhoe had thought that Jiwon was a little bit beautiful.

Junhoe smiled into his sleeve.

_I'll do it._

 

**Author's Note:**

> this is a just a short junbob au, I don't know how often I'll update but I'm excited eee, basically i've started this au on twitter and it's on here too now idk but yesh. i'll probably write bonuses on here that won't go on twitter? irdk lmao


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